Red Meets Blue
by heartsmash
Summary: Rachel's burgeoning career is threatened before the premiere of her first movie. Who can she trust and turn to for protection? Multi-chaptered P/R future-fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Red Meets Blue  
**Author:** Kate (heartsmash)  
**Rating:** Overall, M  
**Pairing:** Rachel/Puck  
**Disclaimer:** Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, among others. I am just taking the characters out to play - I'll put them back when I'm done.  
**Summary:** Who do you turn to when you need protection? P/R, future fic.

**Author's Note:** I began writing this before Sheena (SMC-27) posted her story Bulletproof Loneliness (Trust me, I've got the notebook pages and Starbucks receipts to prove it). The plot point of Rachel having a stalker and Puck being her bodyguard is purely coincidental and I believe it to be really the only thing that the two stories have in common. I admire Sheena's writing too much to even think of plagiarising.

**Chapter 1**

"Thank you Ms. Berry, we are so excited for the movie to be released next week!" the Entertainment Weekly reporter gushed, shaking her hand as they exited the restaurant.

It had been a day of four interviews and four small meals but she was finally done. This was the second day of press in New York and although Rachel adored the attention, she desperately needed some rest before what she knew of free time was officially gone. Her newly purchased apartment was calling her name and thankfully, Quinn had finagled some down time for her and blocked out her calendar as such.

A quiet evening of John Hughes films and Chinese takeout with Quinn and Kurt sounded heavenly. Her vegan diet was long since retired, as the Manhattan cuisine available to her put her former dietary restrictions to shame. Rachel had quickly learned after being in the city for six years, that there was nothing like a slice of pizza at 2 in the morning during finals week or celebratory milkshakes on the closing night performance despite the fact that dairy was harmful to her vocal chords.

It was weird to think that after years of tolerating each other through high school that the two had become her biggest supporters and the team that helped her through each and every day of her burgeoning career. Quinn had become her publicist and manager while Kurt had taken it upon himself to make sure 'that she never wore anything from her high school wardrobe ever again.'

The yellow cab that she slid into got her to her apartment in record time and she compensated her driver happily. Her daytime doorman, Eddie, tipped his hat and opened the front door for her. Despite only living here for two weeks, he knew who she was and who her friends were making it easy to feel safe in such a big city. Rachel smiled and went inside, taking the elevator to her floor. Lucky for her, Kurt had been more than willing to decorate while she had been filming on location in Chicago and London, although they had had minor disagreements at the beginning as to the style she desired. She did not want Marlena Dietrick and Gary Cooper in _Morocco_ as the inspiration to her living room. He had huffed about this being the second time someone had discarded a perfectly good idea but he had lived with it.

Using her key, she went in the front door and the aroma of Chinese food flooded her senses, might work better here. Despite her earlier meals in which she ate daintily in an effort to preserve the perfect picture that she was, she was famished.

"I'm home," she shouted and soon Quinn's blonde head of hair poked around the corner from her kitchen.

"Food's here Rach, go get changed and we can eat in the living room. Kurt put down drop cloths but don't take offense. He just doesn't want anything to "christen" your furniture so soon."

"I heard that!" Rachel heard her stylist protest.

Rachel didn't get in the middle of the two. It was a normal occurrence as the two butted heads about everything – from whether an appearance that Rachel was making should be understated or expressive with what she wore, or whether she should take an interview with _Teen Vogue_ or not (she did not, she wanted to be established as an actress before appealing to one audience or another).

Instead, she admired the still new furnishings of her apartment and how in the end Kurt had given her exactly what she wanted from her first owned home. The content sigh that escaped her lips upon entering the master bedroom didn't get old as this room had been Kurt's piece de résistance.

Aubergine purple paint defined the walls, all white linens made up the king sized mahogany bed and he hadn't forgotten her love of vanity tables that matched the bed frame. It still was missing some decoration but that would come with time.

She felt like she lived in the apartment and that was the most important thing. She changed into sweats and a t-shirt that Kurt wouldn't let her out of the house in and pulled her long dark hair into a pony tail. Tonight was about comfort even if her friend commented on her outfit.

Padding into the living barefoot, she ignored the eye roll she got out of Kurt and instead took interest in Quinn who held out a glass of Pinot Noir and had "news" face on.

"What is it? Do I need to be sitting down for this?"

"Yes," Quinn answered and sat with her. Kurt obviously had not yet heard this news and was quiet as a church mouse.

"The studio called earlier."

Rachel's mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. If the studio called, it must have something to do with the film and if it was the film, it was her role.

"Oh my God, they cut me out of the movie didn't they? I've heard that can happen. The movie gets to be too cumbersome so they cut out what didn't test well…"

"Rachel, breathe…they didn't cut you out of the movie."

Rachel blinked slowly, clearly not sure what else could be an issue that Quinn couldn't handle.

"The studio received some fan mail for you that they deemed concerning. They've suggested that we look into some security as a preventative measure."

Her face scrunched up, clearly taking in one part but not the other.

"They OPENED my first piece of fan mail?"

Quinn had to stop herself from shaking Rachel, but luckily Kurt stepped in to talk some sense into their friend.

"Diva B, focus please. This is serious. Q didn't even tell me so you have to see that the studio is taking this issue and your safety quite seriously. They must think a lot of you that they want to get involved in this."

The words finally sank in and the outrage that had come out for the fan mail was replaced by anxiety. Suddenly gone was the confident star of what was to be the summer's hottest movie and a little girl from Lima was suddenly sitting in her spot on the couch.

"What do we do?" asked Rachel

Quinn resumed control. "I have an alarm company coming tomorrow for the apartment and we need to start interviewing security detail."

Rachel drained her glass of Pinot Noir in one giant gulp. "Having some stranger be the one responsible for protecting me from another reprobate is a little alarming."

"That's why we're interviewing, to determine who you feel most comfortable with. Unless you have a better idea?"

At Quinn's final sentence, an idea sparked in Kurt's brain and he nearly sprayed red wine everywhere as he momentarily choked on the liquid.

"Ooof," Kurt coughed and Quinn quirked an eyebrow.

"Something to add Hummel?"

"Nope," he said popping the p.

That's because his plan would go into effect tomorrow. The three settled in for dinner and the movie, each of them lost in the news and all trying to find the best solution.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Red Meets Blue  
**Author:** Kate (heartsmash)  
**Rating:** Overall, M  
**Pairing:** Brooke/Lucas  
**Disclaimer:** Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy, among others. I am just taking the characters out to play - I'll put them back when I'm done.  
**Summary:** Who do you turn to when you need protection? P/R, future fic.

**Chapter 2**

Kurt did not waste any time the next morning. He called Brittany, his momentary former flame from many moons ago and got passed to Matt Rutherford and then to Mike Chang who finally had the information that he needed to confirm. Now, he was on the subway- much to his displeasure – after all, his outfit was Philip Lim and it did not deserve to be tainted by public transportation. But it was Rachel and he would do a lot for that girl despite their petty disagreements in high school. She had given him reason to leave behind retail and start his own styling business, which was slowly taking off.

Getting off in Brooklyn, he used his phone to get him to the exotic car dealership and shop that had one grease monkey in particular that was of interest to him. The metal door to the shop was open and he took a cautious step inside. He wrinkled his nose at the crude rap music that blared, the pictures of half naked women and celebrities on the walls.

A loud guffaw escaped his lips when he saw a picture of Rachel from US Weekly in the black French Connection dress at the MTV Awards. The cast had just finished filming and flew back the day of for the awards show and Kurt had less than two hours to put an ensemble together. The dress was tight and left little the imagination – if he was straight he could see why the picture was posted.

The laugh attracted the attention of one of the staff and he asked if he could help Kurt.

"Puck!" he shouted and Kurt saw a buzzed head pop out from behind a cherry red Maserati.

Puck spotted Kurt and the stylist waved daintily, the former baritone narrowed his eyes and threw down his wrench.

"Mario, I'll be back in 5," he shouted grabbing a rag and wiping off his hands.

Puck jerked his head towards the exit and Kurt followed. "What are doing here Beyonce? Other than making my co-workers think that I play for the other team."

"We haven't seen or spoken to each other in years and yet you're still a crabby mother effer," Kurt snapped. "But I'm here because I have a proposition for you."

Noah Puckerman did not like where this conversation was headed.

"No way Hummel, I've got my fair share of woman troubles. I don't need boy troubles too."

Kurt rolled his eyes and buffed his nails on the linen of his pants.

"How much money are you making here? Probably enough for a crappy studio and Ramen noodles? And you think its fine because it's out of our stupid cow town."

"Yeah, so?"

"What if I had something better? Something that paid extremely well, something that would allow you move into Manhattan and work with Matt and Mike."

Puck sucked in a sharp breath. More money would be great – he made enough to live on, sending the rest to his mother so she could stop working so damn much. And getting out of his shoebox apartment with his extremely noisy upstairs neighbors? Hell yeah.

"This isn't some escort thing right? It's legit?"

"It actually involves Rachel."

Rachel Berry. Now there was one person from high school who found her way into his thoughts from time to time. If only because his mother brought her up often enough in their phone calls to not fuckin' forget the midget with killer legs and voice.

"Rachel Berry is about to be the next Scarlett Johansson, only with better acting skills and well…Jewish."

"Yeah, I heard she's gonna be in the next Batman. S'fuckin hot."

Truth be told, the minute he had heard that news he had Googled the shit out of that. He saw pictures of her on the set and pictures of her in this tight little leotard that made his mind go to dangerous places.

"Yes, well, Diva B has already attracted some pervs. Studio has asked Quinn to hire some muscle to keep her safe."

"Quinn?"

"Yes, Quinn. She's Rachel's publicist and manager. I'm her stylist. Keep up." Puck glared but Kurt continued.

"I think you and the other two would be perfect for this gig. Rachel would be comfortable and you three would make some good money helping a friend. So what do you say?

& ! & ! &! & ! &

"Thank you, we'll give you a call," Quinn said, walking Big Todd to the door.

The studio had gotten them a room in their New York satellite office to conduct interviews. So far, Rachel was not enthused by any of the choices. Quinn, on the other hand, saw qualified candidates in all six that had come in.

"Rachel, come on…this is not like picking a life partner. They're just protecting you. Can't you see any of them keeping you safe?"

Before Rachel could answer a light rap on the door came and Kurt walked in, looking like the cat that had swallowed the canary.

"Thanks for joining us at the end of things," Quinn said sarcastically.

"Rachel, I've found a solution. What if I told you that I found people you knew that would protect you?

Rachel's eyes momentarily lit up before growing confused. Who did he speak of? Finn was teaching in Detroit and Jesse St. James was a distant sour memory. Unless…

Kurt opened the door and whistled. "I'm not some fucking Bichon, Hummel. Whistle again and see what happens."

Rachel knew that voice and yet shock was still written all over her face as Noah Pucker sauntered through the door.

"Sup Berry, Baby Mama, "he greeted.

Quinn scoffed at the greeting, seeing the boy who had gotten her pregnant at 16 didn't exactly give her butterflies. For Rachel, he was the world's most unlikely friend seeing as how high school had started with him chucking slushies in her face. But after time spent together in Glee and the mere week they had dated, things were different. He wasn't Puck, he was Noah and he was certainly someone that Rachel could see taking on this job.

"We'll let you two have a minute," Quinn muttered, getting up and shoving Kurt out the door roughly.

Noah took the seat that Big Todd had occupied a few minutes before.

"Hit me with your best shot," he said with a wink. He knew that she couldn't outright give him the job without at least a pseudo interview. It wasn't right and he was positive that the Powers that Be would feel similarly if Rachel couldn't give them a reason as to why he was hired other than he was a friend.

"So um, why do you want the position?" she asked, shy at doing this without Quinn's strong guiding hand

"Hummel said you've got some Ben-Israel type creep on your case and you need these guns to help you out."

Rachel smirked and Puck felt himself mimicking the expression. "And what unique skills or talents could you bring to the job?"

"Well, first there's dealing with your specific type of crazy which seems to have dialed down significantly since high school. Not to mention my own brand of badassness and then there's my skills," he said waggling his eyebrows for emphasis

"You're incorrigible!" she cried, her cheeks flushing a light pink. "You certainly haven't changed much since high school."

"Bad thing?" he asked

His intense gaze made her squirm a little. "No, I'm still comfortable around you which is something all the other candidates were missing. But I'm legally bound to tell you that this may be dangerous. It hasn't pointed itself that way yet but I've done extensive research on stalkers and celebrities and in the past, even the non-harmful presentation can turn…"

"Berry, I got this. No guts, no glory right?" he told her

He could not imagine anything hurting her and him not having a say in it. Rachel gave a mega watt smile and ran to the other side of the table, giving him a giant hug. Pulling from the embrace, she took a seat on the table's edge.

"I'm very happy with this decision. Kurt definitely did not waste any time in finding a solution."

"Gotta say, this is probably the best idea Hummel's had in a while. Well at least since sticking you in that little black mini thing at the MTV awards."

She flushed bright red and Puck loved every minute of it. Not even if she was about to be the hottest search on Google once everyone saw the new Batman movie, it was still the easiest thing in the world to make her blush.

"You saw that?"

"Saw it? Babe, the guys at the shop have that shit pinned up. Gotta say, they definitely don't believe me when I tell them I let you go in high school."

Rachel didn't bring up that slightly bitter memory from both of their pasts – when both thought they had such intense feelings for another (Puck's just outside in the hallway) and they had just been kidding themselves with their momentary romance.

"I'd like to think that I earn with my talent, not how I look in French Connection."

"You will," he said seriously

And in that moment, despite any past teasing or sexual innuendo, she believed him.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

"Do you honestly think this is a good idea?" Quinn asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Rachel Berry was her business and the plan was security detail. Not security detail with a side of sexual tension.

"Why are you in such a tizzy about this? Rachel wanted someone she was comfortable around."

"Yeah, but if we're going off of Puck's track record this could very well end with Rachel heartbroken and without security detail. We could avoid all this by just hiring a stranger for the job."

"Quinn Elizabeth Fabray, I trust that you are not saying this from a place of pain or personal experience but based on your beliefs that Puck would not be good for the job."

Quinn hesitated and Kurt waited for her to answer, knowing he had found the source of her irritation. "I don't want Rachel getting hurt. I know how he is and sure, it did cross my mind that there could be a baby-gate redux. But I guess if there was anyone that could do the job of threatening presence well, it would be him."

The two looked through the blinds to the office and saw Rachel embrace Puck.

"I think you made the right choice. I think she's going to be happier with someone she knows rather than someone that she doesn't"

Quinn let herself ease up a little bit about the decision as the foursome returned to Rachel's apartment.

But she didn't show that soft side of her to the boy who got her pregnant when she read him the Riot Act – he was to sleep in the guest room of Rachel's apartment and there was to be no funny business. It didn't shock her when Puck smirked and closed the apartment door in her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Big thanks to my beta, **Nicole **because without her these chapters would sound a lot more like Puck went to finishing school and not like the bad-ass we know and love.

**Chapter Three**

The next day, Puck awoke to Kurt opening the guest bedroom door and putting a coffee on the dresser that was just inside the door.

"Morning sunshine, up and at 'em. We've gotta get moving to get Rachel to her fitting at Elie Saab and Quinn ordered me to bring you with." Orders? Fuck that, he thought rolling over into the pile of soft pillows about 30 seconds from falling back into a nice deep sleep.

"Noah?" he heard Rachel call from the doorway and he opened up his eyes to see her dressed in tight little yoga capris and a white tank top. Any fascination he had with Rachel Berry was not going to go away if she kept dressing like that. Admittedly, he did miss the little skirts that she used to wear in high school.

"Hey," he said, sitting up a little, "I'll be ready in a few. I'm sorry." God, he sounded like a girl. Gone was Puckzilla; in his place was Puck-pansy.

"Don't even worry about it. I was just going to say that you don't have to rush. Kurt is like a kid on Christmas when we go to these fittings. "

"Yeah, no, I gotcha. I'm just gonna shower real quick and I'll be ready."

"Okay. And I just wanted to say again…thank you. You have no idea how good it is going to be to have you, Mike and Matt being the ones to protect me from whoever this person is. I know it must have been an inconvenience to put aside your entire life. " Rachel didn't give a chance to reply, just smiled and closed the door behind her. Puck flopped back onto the bed.

What the hell was wrong with him?

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Kurt complained about everything from the humidity to having to cram into a cab, but Rachel ignored him. She was still getting used to having Puck around again and strangely she found herself not as uncomfortable as she might have thought. Although he had been a self proclaimed bad-ass in high school, that seemed to have toned down some but he still had all of the parts of his personality that made him special. There had been a true friendship between them at the end of high school. And although they hadn't been the greatest at staying in touch the last few years, that friendship seemed to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and pick up right from where it had left off.

That friendship lent itself to a kind of trust she only felt with a handful of people in her life, Kurt and Quinn included.

The people at Elie Saab cooed over Rachel and took orders from Kurt. Puck took a seat on the small suede couch and grabbed a magazine from the top of the pile. _Cosmo_. Chick magazine, of course, but he didn't suspect he would find a copy of _Motor Trend_ or _Sports Illustrated_ in there. He needed something to keep him entertained or this required shopping trip would quickly make him irritable.

He was midway through an article about "99 New Sex Positions to Wow Your Man" when the rustle of fabric interrupted the concentration. He looked up and saw Rachel looking glamorous. Gone were the yoga pants and tank top, replaced by a lavender one shouldered long lace dress with a slit up…so far up. His jaw hung slack.

"Down boy," Kurt said with a snort and Puck narrowed his eyes at him.

"Kurt leave Noah alone, " Rachel admonished and mouthed 'sorry' in the mirror to him.

"Rachel, that dress…" Puck started, magazine discarding and him leaning forward attentively.

"Yes?" she asked suddenly worried that she looked hideous considering she was about seven inches shorter than the typical high fashion model and it might ruin the dress.

"It looks perfect on you," he finished and Rachel read the sincerity in his eyes.

Any further discussion was halted as Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang bounded into the dress shop, Quinn close behind on her Blackberry. The three boys greeted each other boisterously and Rachel smiled at the exchange.

They had been in three different places all doing jobs that they hated. Mike was a research assistant still completing his Masters degree at Northwestern while Matt was still waiting tables in DC, going on endless interviews to find a job for his expensive and apparently unusable finance degree. Now they were doing something totally off the map for a friend. It would certainly be an adventure.

Mike and Matt gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek, the former picking her up off the pedestal and spinning her around and she shrieked playfully. Kurt blanched at the thought of the dress getting ruined and Quinn intervened before he threw a fit.

"Rachel, let's finish this and then we can go to lunch and go over everything." Quinn said

Rachel noted that before the Los Angeles premiere Quinn was in dire need of a day at the spa. She looked exhausted and Rachel felt guilty that managing her career was so taxing on her.

"Mr. Hummel, we have the suits you ordered last night. Did you want the gentlemen to try them?" a petite blonde asked

"Indeed. Boys, go with Kara and get the suits tailored for the premieres."

Free clothes? Bonus. In the end, the boys walked away with two suits apiece and a multitude of dress shirts and ties that were clearly enough to mix and match for the events that they would be accompanying Rachel to. Rachel had tried on other items while they had been occupied and Puck wanted to kick himself for missing it.

"We'll need to have the gowns and suits shipped in pristine condition," Kurt demanded. Puck thought for a moment that Kara would tell him to go to hell but instead, she took dutiful notes of what was to be shipped where and when. "Quinn, I'll need to take you to Bergdorf's tomorrow. You're the only one who is currently without outfits."

"If I have time," Quinn said anxiously typing away on her phone. Rachel stepped in, seeing that that spa date was needed sooner than next week. If she didn't relax, Rachel feared the blonde's head might explode.

"Quinn," she said softly, "Sweetie, you need to relax. Things are good and you're going to make yourself sick. Please make tomorrow about you?" If anyone could resist the voodoo that Rachel seemed to do with her big brown eyes, they were strong.

"Okay," Quinn agreed, "But if something important comes up, you will allow me to do my job?"

"Agreed, now feed me or I will have to throw a diva fit."

If she wasn't so short, that threat might have had actual clout.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

The group went to Bryant Park Grill because Rachel wanted to eat outside and enjoy the New York City summer while they still had it. Traveling for basically the next month would leave them near the end of August upon her permanent return and by that time, the warm weather would be fleeing into the arms of September.

A couple of paparazzi found them on their walk from the subway station (in which Kurt had griped the entire time but Rachel reasoned that Matt and Mike needed the true city experience) and decided to photograph them even as they sat at a table near the edge of the restaurant. That is, until Matt threateningly got up and told them to move along, that Rachel was not a zoo animal.

"Nice one bro," Puck complimented bumping fists with the taciturn former tight end.

"That's fine but please don't get physical with them. That is not good press and it will raise my blood pressure exponentially." Quinn said

"So what are the plans?" Mike asked

Quinn launched into "The Plan." There was the L.A. premiere next week, followed by three European premieres in London, Paris, Madrid and as well as the Tokyo premiere then Rachel had to fly back to New York to do Jimmy Kimmel, Regis & Kelly and Leno.

"She's going to be a very busy girl for the next month."

"And the stalker? What's the deal?" Matt questioned

"So far, just a very descriptive piece of fan mail that does not even warrant being repeated," Quinn said, "Your job is just to move her through crowds, get her out of a bad situation and be general protection when we're out in public. The events and studios have their own security, but you three have been cleared to come with us. Anywhere Rachel goes, you go."

"You're going to love it," Rachel said with a big grin teasingly poking Puck in the side and he jokingly scowled back.

Rachel's phone rang and she answered quickly. "Hey Chace," she greeted, "You still in New York? Yes, we fly out Monday morning as well. Oh he does," she said looking at Quinn mischievously, "Yes, our evening is most certainly free. Okay, that sounds good. We will see you later."

Rachel hung up the squealed loudly.

"Woman, you just killed my hearing," Puck said, "What was that for?"

"Chace's manager, Adam, wants to see Quinn again! We've been trying for months to get them together."

Kurt nodded ardently.

"And who is Chace?" Mike asked

"Chace Crawford, only the newest and youngest actor to become Batman. Duh," Kurt responded as if the boys should know exactly whom they were talking about. He didn't know where the feeling came from but he did not like guys other than himself making Rachel so happy.

"So you guys are going to go out? This is probably a stupid question but are we supposed to go with you?" Matt asked, taking into account what Quinn had just said.

Rachel looked to Quinn. Stupid or not, it did make some sense. Quinn thought for a minute, drumming her well manicured nails on the linen tablecloth. She stared at Puck and it kind of unnerved him. Quinn Fabray was never a person to fuck with in high school and that clearly had not changed one bit.

"No, I don't think it's necessary. A cab will drop us off and pick us up."

"But…" Puck started

"Puck, we don't need you out there chasing tail when you should be watching Rachel. We'll ease you into the job. Trust me." Quinn's lack of trust made Puck seethe. Rachel patted his forearm supportively but the gesture did not do much to cure the feeling of inadequacy that had once again taken residence in his brain.

Once a Lima Loser, always a Lima Loser.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Puck felt like a caged animal. He was in the hotel room with Matt and Mike. The two were half watching Terminator but watching Puck pace around the room was much more entertaining.

"Bro, I think I can speak for Mike when I say that you're making us dizzy. What's eating you?"

"I don't get. Quinn makes this big deal about us going everywhere with Berry and then with her she's like 'I don't think that's necessary'. Bullshit."

"Man, Quinn's been doing this longer than us, she's in charge."

"Can we go out or something? I need to keep my mind off the situation." His friends agreed, not stating the obvious and instead headed out into the busy nightlife of Manhattan.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Reviews are golden - I read them all and I definitely take them into account when plotting the next chapter. Thank you for all the alerts and I certainly hope you'll like what I've got coming up for our two good lookin' Jews. Continued thanks to my busy beta, **Nicole (nicolasmaria) **because she's doing a lot of hand holding with this first story and she probably doesn't realize how I much appreciate her notes and her help. Go check out her stories, her pen-name is above!

**Chapter Four**

The slamming of the suite door caused Puck to learn several things very quickly that next morning. The first was that he had certainly consumed much too much alcohol the night before, as his head pounded as he slowly woke up. The second was that alcohol and early mornings were a bad combination and despite years of experience with each of them, he had not yet perfected the mixture. The final thing was that there was a sleeping redhead in the hotel bed alongside him. With all those things added up, he wanted to groan but he avoided doing that so as to not wake up the the chick sleeping next to him.

"Is Noah awake?" he heard a small voice ask from close outside the door and panic gathered in his stomach. Of course Rachel would be here to see him fuck up royally once again. She was the only one to ever push him to be more and he was basically spitting on that. And what the fuck, where the hell had Mike and Matt been? Some friends that they were to let him bring some random girl back to the suite that was on Rachel's dime.

"No," he heard Mike answer. "He was kind of exhausted last night. We were gonna let him sleep a little more. Once he gets up, we can go for coffee." Goddamn Chang…his friend really needed to work on the lies he told. Especially when it was needed to save his ass. He could have said he went to the gym, that he had run out and would meet them to get coffee – basically anything other than what he had gone with. His lie did not get Rachel out of the room. In fact, it kept Rachel there and he needed her gone for at least a few minutes to tell this chick to hit the bricks.

A chorus of profanities and what quickly negated plans on how to get this chick out of his room played through his brain. He slipped out from under the covers, pulled his boxers on and then scrubbed his fingers over his face. Grabbing his phone, he sent a text to Matt and prayed his friend was able to distract Rachel in order to get … whatever her name was out of here without Rachel seeing. He heard Matt clear his throat and Puck could almost see the boy scratching his head as he thought of a diversion.

"Rach, wanna go get the paper with me downstairs? I have to get the finance section, gotta stay on top of the industry while I'm away."

"Why don't you just call room service?" she asked and for the moment Puck prayed that she would not be a diva and go with spontaneity.

"Girl, you've gone Hollywood on us this fast?" Mike asked and he heard Rachel chuckle.

"Never. Let's go Matthew."

The door opened and closed loudly and the redhead finally stirred. Sleepily, she smirked and looked up at him. "Hey tiger," she greeted.

"Listen, I'm going to bite the bullet and sound like a dick. I really need you to leave. My boss is here and if she sees you, I could get fired."

The redhead quirked an eyebrow disbelievingly – it was 9 am on a Saturday, who is up and working at this hour? In Manhattan, no less. Seemingly, she didn't even care that he was trying to get rid of her but rather that _that _was the story he was going with. Puck could see where she wouldn't easily believe him and searched for a better way to get her out of the room. Chang finally inherited the gift of good timing and burst in his room. The redhead made sure she was properly covered and scowled. This was not how her Saturday morning should be going.

"Rachel's here," he announced

"No shit Sherlock, I got that one when the door to the suite slammed and I heard her voice. At least Rutherford was able to get her outta here for a few." The redhead, whose name Puck still did not know, finally took the hint and started getting dressed. When she was nearly together, he ushered her to the door even as she only had one shoe on.

The rest felt like it happened in slow motion. The suite door opened and in walked Rachel and Matt, New York Times in hand. The redhead (whose name he would learn was Casey based on the cocktail napkin she left on the dresser), gave Rachel a once over before telling Puck to call her and leaving the newly convened group behind to deal with the apparent fall out. Puck looked at the reaction on Rachel's face – a mixture of incredulity, anger and acceptance. The latter, was the worst, as it felt like a knife to see that she really thought he hadn't changed much since high school. And this was just another instance of proof to back up her case.

"I'm going to wait in the car with Cooper," she said mentioning the new driver that Quinn had hired. Without so much as another word, she left the hotel suite and with Puck desperately needing something to hit.

"Where were you guys?" he hissed, "How did you let me take some girl home?"

"You snuck out with her when we went to the bar to close the tab. By the time we got back here, you two were making noises that neither of us were going to disturb."

"Damn it," he groaned. "She's so pissed."

"You just have to apologize. And not some shit attempt either," Matt said. "You're going to have to explain to her why you were upset. And we know, as your friends, that it's not just because of Quinn's mandate. It's something else. And if she knew, I think she could overlook this morning's little … issue."

"Rutherford, what the fuck are you babbling about?"

"Chang, am I the only one that thinks that Puck still has a thing for Rachel?"

"No sir, you are not," the lanky Asian said, crossing his arms.

"Psssht," Puck said dismissively.

"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," Mike said taking a seat on the couch. "Get showered and quick. We're taking Rachel on her errands today by ourselves. Quinn said to consider it our probation."

He didn't waste time in the shower – no sense in making Berry madder than she was. But he knew if he entered the vehicle smelling like eau de One Night Stand, his future option to have children would be removed.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

They found Rachel sitting in the third row of the Navigator, headphones in ear. Her face showed no emotion as they got in the vehicle. The car pulled away from the curb and into the punishing traffic of the city.

"Berry, listen..." he started. There was not a flicker of acknowledgement from the actress so Puck changed his approach. "Rachel," he continued, "Can we talk?"

She pulled an earbud out of her ear and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'd rather we forget the matter completely. I'm not in charge of your personal life as long as it does not interfere with your job. Whatever the reason is for you having _sex_ with some _stranger_, it will not change the fact that you are still the same person from high school."

Whipping out her phone, she sent a quick text to Kurt. _This may not work out_. Kurt responded quickly. _NP?_ Biting her lip, she answered _yes_.

"I'm sorry," he apologized and when it got no response, Chang punched him in the thigh. Puck scowled at his friend who was urging him to continue with the apology. Clearing his throat, he went on. "I'm sorry that you had to see that...back there and...I don't really care if you don't want to hear it. That's too fucking bad, you're going to have to listen."

Rachel scoffed and got out of the car as Cooper pulled up to a surprisingly quiet Starbucks in NoLita.

"Nice," Matt said, sarcastically complimenting Puck's attempted apology before they followed her into the store.

The barista saw her and asked if she wanted her usual. Rachel happily answered yes asking for an additional shot of espresso in the beverage. Puck didn't like the stupid tension and told Mike to grab her drink. Inconspicuously, he grabbed her by the waist and towed her into the bathroom, which was 10 feet away from the counter. He locked the door despite her protests.

"Unhand me!"

He laughed at her thinking was some Roaring 20's movie set before getting serious. "We're not leaving this bathroom until we get over this morning. We can't work together with you all pissy."

"I'm sorry that you're uncomfortable with my emotions, Noah, but I won't just forgive you. I stand by my convictions. Now, let me out!"

Puck leaned against the wooden door and despite Berry having years of routine exercise under her belt, there was no fucking way she was making him budge.

"You were wrong, I have changed since high school. I know that statement seems shot to shit based on this morning but I am...I'm different. It's not all about me and I get that now."

Her glare softened and she wanted to know more. Truthfully, it had hurt seeing him this morning with some whore sneaking out of his room but she didn't want to throw away this never-ending faith that she had in his ability to be more.

"How do you mean?"

"Kurt probably didn't tell you this but I work paycheck to paycheck. Not because I don't make money, but I don't keep it all. I pay the bills and keep enough to live on but the rest I send home so my mom doesn't have to bust her ass to make sure the house doesn't get taken away."

"And the girl?" Rachel questioned

Puck could sense that his one night stand was the eye of the storm. He didn't know what Rachel's issue with Casey was – Berry was a shit ton more successful and possessed effortless beauty. As fuzzy as the memory was, he knew Casey was a bartender at the St. Regis and the redhead had been seriously made up last night.

"First time, I've had sex in months. Last time was my ex, Annie."

Rachel raised an eyebrow at this admission. Puck had declared himself someone who did not do monogamy in high school and she wondered where that proclamation had gone since then.

"What happened to 'I'm a sex shark. If I stop moving, I die?'" she asked expertly quoting what he had told Mercedes during their sophomore year.

"Where did you hear that?" he asked his eyes growing as wide as saucers, clearly embarrassed.

She could count the number of times she had seen Noah Puckerman embarrassed on one hand but every time it happened, it was semi-amusing. It was like he forgot everything he preached about being a stud and a badass and he reverted to an awkward teenager. Truthfully, she just wanted to hear the words that this girl was a mistake. Not because she had a thing for him (as much as it was nice to have him around, she most certainly did not have romantic feelings for him. At least she was 96% sure of that.)

"Mercedes told me. That genius line is not exactly one that I will be letting slip from my memory," she said with a giggle. Hearing her giggle made the desire to sink into the ground a little less. Maybe there was progress being made. "So you're telling me that the red head was a mistake and nothing more?"

"Yes, I already yelled at the others for letting me do something so stupid. I was just so pissed at Quinn for being a hypocrite and like doubting me or whatever. So I went to alcohol."

It was true. On one hand, Rachel was making him feel like a hero and then there was Quinn, who made him feel like the felon, complete with a villainous black mustache and Rachel tied to the railroad tracks. Her lack of faith didn't help keep his head clear.

"Noah, it was my decision to hire you and the others. Next time, talk to me if you're feeling that way okay? I'd rather you sort through how you're feeling rather than…"

"I gotcha."

She encircled his torso giving him a small hug. They left the bathroom finding Mike and Matt waiting with rapt attention.

"You two good?" Matt asked taking a loud drink of his blended coffee drink

"We're good. Onto the next errand," she announced with a smile.

A light was in her eyes as she smiled and Puck knew for the moment that things were okay.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The time for Rachel to be in Los Angeles came about faster than anyone anticipated. But none were more excited than the brunette – even her normal mile-a-minute mouth moved faster than usual. With such a larger group of travelers, Quinn and Adam mutually agreed for Chace and Adam to travel with Rachel's entourage on a chartered plane out to the West Coast.

They arrived at the airport mid morning and Puck grumbled lowly as Chace gathered Rachel in a big hug and the brunette obviously adored it. He was a pretty boy – although the two were the same height, Puck still had a good 10 pounds of muscle on the kid, even after the working out he had done for the role of Batman.

Quinn and Adam took seats near the back of the plane, obviously still in that honeymoon stage of the relationship. 'Of course,' Puck thought sarcastically, 'It's all still hot four days in.' Puck took a seat and Rachel chose the one next to him to which he gave her a questioning look.

"What? Your arms are perfectly lovely pillows," she explained. Puck didn't need more explanation than that as she began nestling into him and slipping headphones into her ears. It didn't take her twenty minutes to fall asleep and he had to keep himself from laughing at the sight. She painted a cute picture – the hood of her sweatshirt pulled up making her brunette hair stick out everywhere, mouth in a little pout and her breathing even.

Every once and while, she would stir slightly before sighing and resting comfortably. Puck knew she must be exhausted, as the schedule that she kept was demanding. Chace came over and took the seat across from Puck, holding out his hand to introduce himself.

"Chace," he said

"Noah Puckerman, but people call me Puck."

"Quinn mentioned you and the others at dinner the other night."

They made small talk as Puck revealed how he knew Quinn and Rachel (neither story prettier than the other but then again that's what you get for knocking up the head cheerleader at 16 and hurling slushies at a young ingénue throughout high school) and Chace told Puck about working with Rachel that despite the early set calls, Berry still had her morning workout routine and flax seed protein shake before there was even a hint of light in the sky.

"She's something. For this being her first big break, she was…impressive. Like in your face, gonna rock your world."

"That's Berry," Puck agreed.

He liked the kid and it didn't seem as if he would have to hurt the newest golden boy of the Batman Empire. Chace had a Finn Hudson kind of charm but with more smarts.

"How does it feel to suddenly be this superhero? My inner five year old would be pissing his pants."

"It feels good, great actually. I've got big shoes to fill. I'm just happy that Nate Archibald was able to take a sailing trip around the world so I could take the project."

"My sister watches the show. How long have you been in college on that show man?" Puck teased light heartedly.

"Ha, I know. It feels like a lifetime. But it could have been worse I guess. Not everyone gets gold off their first big break."

Puck didn't know if that was a shot at Rachel but he chose to ignore it. Berry was going to take the town by storm – he could feel that shit in his bones. Adam called for Chace so the two boys bumped fists and Puck went back to being the glorified pillow.

Rachel had taken the liberty of printing some research on how to be a bodyguard and truthfully, he took the next hour to read through some of it. Some stuff was elementary – be intimidating, maintain physical fitness and don't outshine the celebrity you're responsible for guarding. But then there were certainly other things that he took note of - learning the quickest routes around events that they would be at so that they could get her out of a sticky situation and searching the area before allowing Rachel to enter into the events. Although he knew that the three of them were new at this and that things weren't going to be perfect, he would give it one hell of a shot. Plus, it helped that the three guys were basically Call of Duty masters.

Rachel didn't wake until the plane began to descend into LAX and she mumbled ouch.

"You okay?" he asked

"Ears," she said wincing with her eyes still closed, "This is the worst portion of any air travel."

Puck unwrapped a piece of gum and told her to open up. She looked up at him appalled, thinking him lewd as always. He held up the gum and she finally obliged. The gum did lessen the pressure in her ears and definitely made her think if even for the tiniest second that this was much more than a job for the two of them.

& ! & ! & ! & !

With all the luggage that they possessed, Puck knew they must look like a group of gypsies. But the Ritz Carlton staff did not bat an eye and dutifully stacked the belongings onto carts as Quinn checked them in.

"Ah, Miss Berry you had a package delivered. Let me get it from the back office."

Rachel smiled sweetly at Puck and tugged gently on the hem of his t-shirt. It was shit like this that threw Puck into a tailspin – what the hell was going on between the two of them? One minute it seemed as if they were strictly friends doing business and the next minute, one of them was flirting up a storm. Not that he minded either way, but the mid-game switch up definitely threatened the situation.

"Will you bring it upstairs? We've only got a little time before dinner and I don't want to be running late." He grimaced but agreed, forcing Matt to hang back with him. Puck mentally drew the line at requests like this – there would be no holding her purse and carrying around a fluffy white dog. Shit like that stripped a man of his balls completely (even if her brown eyes would eventually change his mind on the matter). As if Rutherford read his mind, he brought the topic up for discussion which made Puck grit his teeth.

"So this is going to sound super gay but what's the deal with you and Rachel? The way you two were on the plane was super couplely."

"Dude, shut the fuck up. What are we going to do - brush each other's hair and paint our nails? The girl needed some sleep and she was lucky she had the Puckerones available to her instead of your little chicken arms."

Matt swore at him but it didn't get much farther as the desk attendant brought out a Teleflora box wrapped in a silky green ribbon. Trailing their suitcases, the boys brought the package upstairs to the sixteenth floor where their suite awaited. Rachel had already put on a hotel robe and started styling her hair when she saw the flowers. Excited over the box, she raced to open it.

No one was prepared for what lay inside. 24 dead roses. They smelled horrible and the sight was just as bad. A note sat on top, the words typed large enough to see from over her shoulder: _Enjoy the premiere. Everyone should enjoy what's mine at least once._

Rachel balked at the sight, turning into Matt's embrace. Puck roared and threw the box off the table, shocking everyone with his rage. He stalked over the house phone and after a few minutes with the front desk, was finally in touch with the LAPD. They needed information and fast – this asshole was too close to Rachel for anyone's comfort.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Rachel had retreated to the master suite, seriously shaken by the gift that the sick fuck had left her. Puck waited in the foyer with Mike and Matt, muscles tense as he was ready to rip this cretin to shreds. A knock at the door revealed a plain-clothes detective. She was 5'8", bright green eyes and long blonde hair. If she hadn't flashed a badge at him and had a gun on her hip, she could have been mistaken for a model.

"I'm Detective Isaacs. What happened?" Mike told the story from what they knew (the letter) and what they had just experienced (the rotting roses). Detective Isaacs took notes as he spoke. "Do you three have experience with cases like this?" They shook their heads no and she sighed. "These things can get messy boys. She's a public figure."

It eased model detective's worry to hear that they had skills in boxing and mixed martial arts from fight club in high school. "I'll start an investigation about the delivery. But you three need to lock down her schedule. Keep only a few people involved in her daily activities and keep things very scheduled. Here's my card. I'll contact the precinct in New York and brief them so that we can work together."

_Detective Aubrey Isaacs_  
_Threat Unit, Detective Support and Vice Division_  
_Los Angeles Police Department_  
_213-910-8631_

Mike saw her out and pocketed the card as Puck took a minute to plot.

"We need a plan. We need a set way of how things are going to go over the next few days. Coffee, yoga, everything has to be on there and someone is with her at all times – Quinn and Kurt don't count in that equation. It has to be one of us." Mike and Matt nodded at Puck's natural progression into the point person

"What do we tell her? The truth?" Matt asked looking to the closed door that the actress was behind.

Puck ran a hand over his face and weighed the decision. The scared girl in there would probably appreciate half the truth of the situation. But Rachel Berry…she would appreciate the truth.

"She gets the truth. Because with her in the dark, we'll have to be that much more fucking careful. Her knowing the truth will make her fight that much harder."

& ! & ! & ! & ! & ! & !

The boys had sat her down and told her the truth, which she couldn't say that she didn't appreciate. She tried to compartmentalize all the information because she still had burgeoning career to maintain and that night it meant going out even if she didn't feel like it at the moment. Despite the situation, the group had gotten ready in record timing and got into the car that would be transportation for their time in Los Angeles. She didn't have a chance to think of the glitz and glamour, just of her job and what it meant to be making it. There was such an influx of actresses and actors that were chomping at the bit for what she had and there was no other option but to push through.

In Rachel's eyes, it was fate that on the night of the second situation involving her stalker, she had to go to one of the most popular Los Angeles area restaurants for dinner. But she was meeting Zachary Quinto who was playing Black Mask in the film for dinner. Her charm had won over all her co-stars and it was no wonder that Zachary wanted to dine with her and introduce to his former _Heroes_ co-star, Ali Larter and her husband Hayes.

As they sat at a stoplight close to the restaurant, Rachel trembled and Puck noticed her anxiety written all over her face.

"Berry, you got this," Puck said from the passenger seat. He had been keeping an eye on her through the rearview mirror and the worry in her brown eyes was troubling. Rachel was the strong one – the one who had pulled the group together to win Nationals their junior year and the one to belt it on the fly when there was no one else ready to step up to the plate.

"I'm nervous, what if the...how can I be sure that the stalker isn't around every corner?" Rachel questioned wringing her hands.

"Rachel Barbra Berry, you have worked too hard for this to let some psycho suddenly deprive you of your time. We will find who it is and we will make sure that you are safe," Quinn said emphatically. The blonde gave her friend's hand a squeeze; a gesture that she hoped added some strength to the already resilient brunette.

Rachel let out a shaky breath and nodded. Quinn was right. She had worked too hard on too many small roles to finally let someone take her time from her. She was Beckett Warner and she had a two picture deal that would only further her career. It was time to take life by the horns.

Her mouth spread into a small grin and she nodded for Matt to open the door. Flashes went off as they piled out of the car. "Rachel!" was being yelled by the paparazzi camped out in front of Mr. Chow. She gave a little wave, paused for barely a minute before letting the three guys circle around her protectively and guide her into the restaurant.

& ! & ! & ! & ! & ! & !

"Damn, some entourage you've got there girl. It makes me want to get into this movie empire," Ali commented patting Rachel's hand. "No offense babe," she said to her husband, giving him a chaste kiss.

"Thank you but they're actually all friends from home. I'm very lucky to have them, " Rachel explained.

The statement was very true. She knew that Chace and Adam had met through the industry and had become close, but it wasn't always like that. There were definitely relationships in the industry that were simply business and she was lucky to avoid that so early on. It made trust come easier.

The laughter coming from the other table caused Rachel to look over. Quinn had her mouth covered with her napkin as she laughed heartily at Mike. Kurt caught her eye and gave her a wink. And Noah? Noah looked up from his beer and raised an eyebrow, giving her a slight smirk as they locked eyes. She blushed at the inquiring expression. God, he looked cute that night in a plain black polo over the charcoal dress pants that Kurt had picked out.

_Despite Matt and Mike being good sports, there had been a five minute fuss in which Puck had said no way in hell was another dude picking out his clothing. Rachel had sat on the bed with Mike, amused at the sight as Quinn seemingly egged the two on by telling Puck to just let Kurt do his job. Kurt was smug and crossed his arms in a stalemate._

"_You're just threatened that my clothing choice obviously suits your physique and skin tone."_

"_Beyonc__é__, you did not just comment on my physique."_

_Rachel snorted with laughter and Mike poked her in the side and whispered encouragement for her to end the tiff. When it came to this group and all the different personalities, she was clearly the peacemaker. Plus, she was kind of the boss. Her word was difficult to argue with._

"_Noah, I like the outfit if that counts for anything."_

_Swiftly enough, the fire in his hazel eyes died out and he agreed to wear what the stylist had picked. But it wasn't before Puck telling Kurt to never comment on his body ever again. Kurt rolled his eyes and moved onto Quinn who had clearly dealt with this clothing control a lot longer. _

"Rachel?"

Rachel blinked as her three dinner guests were clearly waiting on an answer from her.

"I'm so sorry, I got lost in my thoughts there. What were you saying?"

"I know that look," Ali said with a grin as Rachel sipped her wine. "Who's the guy?" she asked nodding her head towards Puck. Rachel choked on the liquid, coughing as Ali's husband, Hayes, got up and urged her to put her hands up as they did with their young son. Puck was at her side in an instant, lightly patting her back and then urging her to take a sip of water to end the coughing.

"You good?" he asked

"Yes," she answered with a blush. "Thank you."

"I'll be over there if you need…us" he said, faltering on the last word.

Rachel blushed again leaving Ali delighted.

"Oh, girl…nice."

"What?" Rachel asked horrified, looking to Zachary who held up his hands claiming no part in this.

"He's a good choice. Handsome, attentive… go for it."

"Go for what?" Rachel further questioned. She did not like where this topic was headed.

"Office romances are the best. Isn't that right babe?"

Hayes nodded at Rachel and she had to remind herself to breathe. Was this physical attraction that she was having for Noah apparent to everyone? She didn't know where her emotions stood for the Lima's former bad boy, but her body seemed to buzz with excitement whenever he was around.

Looking over at the other table, she smiled in seeing his face bathed in the candlelight as he joked with Mike and Matt. He looked over at her and they locked eyes again before Rachel looked back to Ali, who was grinning excitedly and nodding her head. She bit her bottom lip in apprehension.

This was going to be an interesting next month.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** So I totally had a different start to this chapter but the new Marie Clare photoshoot featuring Lea inspired a new start. Chapter 8 is in the works, so there won't be such a long wait for the next installment. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter Eight**

They were up way too early for Puck's liking the next morning. After the late night out at Mr. Chow, he could have seriously enjoyed sleeping until early afternoon. But strangely he wasn't complaining about being up this early. The air was certainly tinged with excited as the group was on the way for Rachel's first-ever cover shoot for _Glamour_. The magazine was excited about popping her cover model cherry and bringing such a fresh face to the magazine when her big break movie was just about to be released.

Stopping for coffee on the way to the studio, Rachel could not stop talking. And Puck couldn't have been happier. Although he knew she hadn't forgotten about the stalker, it was good to see her back in better spirits.

Upon arriving, the magazine's on-set stylist whisked Rachel away upon her arrival with Kurt trailing behind like a watchdog.

Quinn set up a mini office to send e-mails while the three guys took seats on the various pieces of furniture to zone out. Puck didn't like this whole waiting around thing watching as all these people were perfecting the photo shoot's industrial looking set with the placement of wood crates, rope and pulleys on a black background. It was his first time in Los Angeles and he did want to see the city at some point

Kurt came out half an hour later looking like the cat that ate the fucking canary.

"What's with you?" Matt asked from his horizontal place on the velvet couch

"I didn't think that in a million years that I would these words would ever come out of my mouth but…Rachel looks hot."

Puck straightened up in the armchair a little bit at this piece of information.

"What did you convince them to put her in?" Quinn asked with a quirked eyebrow, knowing that Rachel's personal stylist had had a hand in the day's wardrobe if he had been given the littlest leeway.

"The trifecta…Dolce, Marchesa, Givency," Kurt replied with a glint in his eye.

Puck didn't have a chance to ask what the fuck they were talking about because Rachel appeared on the set and all verbal function went out the window. She was in this cream colored ruffled dress that fell to her knees and these black heels that made her calf muscles look fucking good.

The photographers sat her on a crate, pulled down the straps of the dress so they lay idly against her olive skin and had her bend one leg up on the crate. The hair stylist messed up the already loose curls that fell over her shoulders.

In Puck's mind, somebody knew what the fuck they were doing. Music started up and Rachel posed as the photographer shouted directions of her and snapped photos. He knew he was staring but he honestly couldn't be bothered to care. She was fucking hot and everyone in that room knew it, Hummel or not.

After she changed into what he considered to be an even sexier outfit (Puck knew hot pants got their name for a reason), he knew that he done for. Despite shining for the cameras and for audiences, he knew that girl behind the smile. And he liked her. Any feelings that he thought had been long gone had officially come to the surface.

He once again had a crush on Rachel Berry.

& ! & ! & ! & ! & ! & !

"Damn, I make this look good," Matt said pulling on the lapels of his suit jacket, eyeing himself in the mirror. Mike was combing his hair back but he chuckled at his friend's conceitedness. The three boys were getting ready for the Los Angeles premiere as Kurt was undoubtedly torturing Rachel in the other bedroom so she would be picture perfect for cameras in an hour.

Puck kept quiet as he was trying to tie his tie with very little luck. First it was too long, then too short. He sighed aggravated as the stress of the evening finally felt real. There was knock on the door to the room that Mike and Puck were sharing, and the former shouted for the person to come in.

What torture Kurt had enacted on Rachel, clearly looked good on her. Rachel stepped into the room, ready to go to her first premiere as a movie star and for a second, Puck forgot how to breathe.

She honestly looked like a movie star. It was not badass to say it, but she was a vision in the gown that she had tried on at Elie Saab. She had looked great in the store but now, with the addition of towering heels and with her hair in waves pulled over one shoulder, she would own the red carpet that night. Puck literally had to tear his eyes away and focus on doing the tie once more.

"We good Puck?" Mike asked his friend, noting the apparent struggle that he was having with the tie.

"Argh," Puck growled pulling the knot loose again. Rachel motioned for the other to leave and approached him gently. He looked more stressed than she felt.

"Noah?" she asked softly and he looked at her. "Can I help?" she asked and letting the two ends of the tie fall, he surrendered to her. Her hands worked quickly knotting and tugging until the tie lay perfectly against his white shirt.

"You did a good job," he said admiring her handiwork.

"Two dads remember? They had me learn early," she said picking up his jacket and helping him into it. Smoothing her hands over the tops of his shoulders, she murmured that he cleaned up well.

"Thanks," he said, her perfume swirling around him.

It was weird, them being alone especially now that Puck had defined the feelings he had for Rachel. Rarely was she without Quinn or Kurt, them chattering on about something in her schedule or something about an outfit.

But on the other hand, it was…nice as they regarded the other as these grown up people in a situation that no one could have predicted once upon a time in the hallways of William McKinley.

Looking at her soft lips that had been painted the perfect shade of pink, he had the strongest urge to kiss her and before he could talk himself out of it, he moved in slowly. Sensing the desire, Rachel leaned in similarly towards him, eyes fluttering closed. They were inches apart before he got hold of himself and pulled away. She sighed softly and he immediately wondered what that meant. Did she honestly want to kiss him too? He cleared his throat before giving her one last boost of confidence before they left for the premiere.

"You're going to be great Berry," he said earnestly

"No Noah," she acquiesced, "You are. I trust you."

& ! & ! & ! & ! & ! & !

Everything he had seen on E! about movie premieres (he lived with two women for 18 years it, it happened occasionally – so sue him) was blown out of the water once they stepped out of the limo. Thousands of people lined guard rails screaming for Chace and Zachary. He saw a few posters of _Gossip Girl_, which he was sure, was making Chace super happy.

Matt, Mike and he formed a loose half circle around Rachel and continually checked their surroundings. Quinn had her trusty Blackberry in hand and guided her through the press line. She took a majority of photos alone until they met Chace and Zachary in front of the theater. Along with Gary Oldham, who had reprised the role of Detective Jim Gordon the beautiful cast took a bunch of photos together before heading inside.

Pandemonium described inside the theater as well. Celebrities who were attending the premiere were left and right leaving Puck no time to be star struck. That is until Jon Hamm came over and told Rachel that he was looking forward to the movie as well as that they needed to work together on something soon and to which Rachel had replied 'sure' like it was not a big deal. Puck just stood and gaped because that was Don Draper and _Mad Men_ was fucking awesome.

Eventually, they filed to their seats and Christopher Nolan made a short speech before the film started. From the minute that Berry appeared onscreen in the tight red silk mini dress as Beckett Warner, jazz club singer and Bruce Wayne's current love interest, the film had his rapt attention. When the camera focused on her eyes and mouth as she sang, he felt his pants get a little tight because she looked hot as fuck.

It wasn't the same old Batman movie where Bruce Wayne played everyone's White Knight, which was kind of awesome. So fucked up by the death of Rachel Dawes and the disappearance of The Joker, Wayne spends more time at The Blue Note, Gotham's sleezy but well alcohol fueled jazz club. Run by known mobsters, there was a lot of focus on Bruce's downward spiral, pissing away his money on alcohol and women. It's not until Beckett verbally kicks the shit out of him that he wakes up.

Fuck, Rachel was good. She showcased her acting and singing and Puck couldn't be prouder. That is until the love scene. Rachel's body rocked but there was something about someone else touching and kissing her that made him see red. Acting or not, that shit was not kosher and he wanted Chace's head on a platter. And shit was that side boob? No one should be seeing these intimate parts of Rachel. Quinn clearly noticed the way his body tensed and patted his hand sympathetically.

"Puck, it's just acting," she whispered, "Don't be an idiot and say something stupid or you might lose any head way that you've made with Rachel."

Normally, he could care less what Quinn had to say. But for now, she was right and it seemed like she was honestly trying to help the situation. By the time the end of the film as The Blue Note got shot up in gunfire and Beckett was taken hostage, Puck had relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the movie. As the lights came up and everyone gave a round of applause, Rachel looked expectantly at her guests.

"Diva B, that was phenomenal," Kurt gushed, "And who picked out that red number from the club? I swear to Gucci, that was absolute perfection"

Quinn, Mike and Matt gave similar review and Rachel waited for Puck to give his views. He held back on how he wanted to rip Chace's arms off. Instead, he went with a lighter note.

"Berry, that was awesome – I can't believe you cursed."

Rachel laughed and slapped his arm playfully.

The gesture said friend, but the way she had been with him in the hotel room screamed something different. They were dancing around each other and Puck had no idea what to do without the possibility of a terrible outcome.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Here is the next chapter that I promised would not be far behind. I appreciate your love of the slow build because I enjoy writing it. But you'll be getting some action soon. No worries ;). And although the next chapter is a quarter of the way done, reviews definitely help. Kind of like writing fuel.

**Chapter Eight**

Puck thought he knew what jet lag was after the flight to L.A., but it wasn't until their arrival in London that the true meaning reared its ugly head. Everyone passed out in the hotel for a few hours after they checked in. Eventually, Quinn wanted to run to the market for some food (and alcohol) and he offered to go with her.

He stifled a yawn but inevitably Quinn did the same as the contagiousness of yawn spread in the small elevator. Quinn smiled, ducking her head. This was the first time in a long time that they got along. No fighting, no snide remarks. It was kind of nice.

"Thanks for coming with," she said nodding towards the bag of groceries that he was carrying.

"I might be an asshole a majority of the time but I'm not going to let you go out in a foreign country at night by yourself."

"First off, you've been a minimal asshole since you've been around. And second, you sure it has nothing to do with Rachel?" Quinn prodded. The way Puck stiffened and his arm tightened on the grocery bag was a dead giveaway but he reasoned that there was nothing there.

"Well, a little birdie told me that you two almost kissed before the premiere."

"Would this birdie happen to be six foot Asian that's going to get his ass kicked?" Puck questioned irritably. That was the last time that he told Chang anything; clearly he had turned into a sixteen-year-old girl and couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Actually, it was Rachel that told me," Quinn said with a small smirk. She was talking about it to Quinn, which meant she didn't want to pretend like it didn't happen. But what did that mean for him?

"Are you going to tell me what she said?"

"No, but I will tell you that she was giddy about it. And I'm only telling you this because you should man up and do something about it. You two have been dancing around each other since the end of junior year."

He laughed lightly at her use of man up as it sounded so foreign coming from her, seeing as how since they had joined forces for Rachel, Quinn had been nothing less than professional.

"Let's just see where it goes okay?" he offered and Quinn shrugged apparently with his response in the sense that he had a plan.

He honestly didn't. He knew that he and Rachel needed to talk. It was just a matter of when since they were currently occupying a suite for four that was housing six.

The elevator dinged and Puck followed Quinn down the hallway. Using the keycard to open the door, the two were greeted with an interesting scene. Mike, Matt and Rachel had apparently dug up costumes out of their suitcases for sheer amusement. Rachel was in this tank top, criminally tiny boy shorts and the one baseball cap that Puck had packed, complete with half a bottle of wine in her hand as a makeshift microphone. The boys were dressed in baggy clothing and sunglasses as "Feelin' So Good," by Jennifer Lopez blasted on the stereo. The party had clearly started and the three lip-synched and danced around for everyone's entertainment.

Kurt sat in the armchair, dressed in a smoking jacket and silk pajamas, the latest issue of _Vogue_ discarded on his lap. He was too confused and intrigued by the scene in front of him to even learn what was in for fall. Rachel grabbed Quinn's hands and danced with her stupidly. The blonde threw her head back in laughter and Puck was overcome with this feeling. Although he told himself to find his balls, he felt like this was family. Sure, he had his mother and sister back in Ohio but this piece – this feeling of being in the right place at the right time had always been missing.

Soon enough, Quinn cracked open a new bottle of wine and the group toasted. And toasted. And toasted. It didn't take long for their toasts to get ridiculous and unintelligent. (Puck's favorite? "To Kurt's smoking jacket because he puts Hef to shame!" Quinn crowed as Kurt pushed his bangs back with a cocky smile.) Three bottles of wine later and Rachel was tanked. In the middle of their drink fest, she had taken perch on Matt's lap and now teetered on the verge of sleep.

"Better put the lush to bed," Quinn said smiling into her wineglass as she drained her latest glass of Pinot Noir.

Matt made no move to pick her up and Puck could tell that his friend was on the verge of drunk as well. Putting down his glass, he picked Rachel up bridal style and headed to the bedroom that she and Quinn were sharing in London. He did his best not to think about soft her skin was what with how little clothing she had on.

He laid her on the bed, taking the extra blanket on the edge and covered her up. She blinked, eyes bleary grabbing at his arm before he left the room.

"Hey," she mumbled sleepily

"Hi," he replied with smirk. He noted that she really needed to learn how to drink because she would lose her shit if photos of her drunk off a few glasses of wine ended up in the tabloid.

She tried to sit up some but her state proved the task tricky. He helped and she pulled her knees to her chest to balance, resting her chin there with a sigh.

"I like this," she said taking his hand and tracing her fingers over his palm with a small giggle.

"My guns? Berry, we've been over this," he joked but truthfully his mouth turned dry and he felt his pulse quicken. What did they say about alcohol and inhibitions? Fuck.

He hadn't even gotten his head wrapped around the information that Quinn had told him in the elevator. He was happy that she wasn't regret the kiss that didn't happen, but he hadn't really much thought to what his next move was. He knew that they needed to talk but he didn't want to talk to her like this, with him buzzed and her clearly drunk. He wanted to bolt before this took a road he wasn't ready for.

"No, you here. Around. It's nice," she said. Of course Rachel would be a chatty drunk. "I'm safe with you," she equated simply.

"Of course. Won't let that asshole come near you."

"No, not just that. Like everything," she stressed, "My head gets quiet around you and I don't think I'm missing anything."

"Berry…" he said warningly. Her words were getting at something serious and he was panicked. He liked her. Wasn't this the natural next step? For them to sort out what had been going on between them? Here was the result and he was scared shitless. His last relationship's end could have been classified as World War III and he was not ready for another to implode before his very eyes.

She leaned back against the pillows tugging on him to join her and take things further but he didn't budge. He knew what she wanted but he couldn't go there. So he avoided any future mess by putting a stop to the evening.

"You're drunk. Sleep it off."

He yanked his hand away and bolted from the room.

& ! & ! & ! & !

He had ignored the voices calling after him as he left the hotel room, nothing but his wallet in his pocket. He had even left his cell phone on the coffee table in the room and didn't care to go retrieve it.

It didn't take him very long to find a pub. There was one two streets over that he had seen with Quinn on the walk back to the hotel. Puck slid onto a stool and ordered a pint; just staring at the dark colored liquor after the bartender put it in front of him.

He didn't want to get drunk over this. He did want to think. His time spent with her kind of all blended together. Times he really hadn't given two seconds to since he had left Lima.

_It was a brutal day in August. His mom got a chance to take on some overtime at the hospital and rightfully, she took it. It would make that month's bills a little easier to manage. The only issue was that Sarah had the chicken pox. He assured his mom he could handle it and immediately cancelled his pool cleaning appointments for the day. It wasn't until Sarah started crying hysterically due to her fever that his mother, the nurse, would be pretty helpful in this situation. Out of children's Motrin and the calamine lotion at dangerously low levels, he needed back up. Scrolling through the address book on his phone, he had reasons why each was of no help to his current situation. _

_Finn was at football camp. Santana would want something in it for her. _

_Rachel. If she wasn't at some crazy dance class or a vocal lesson, she might actually help him. Dialing her number, he got straight to the point. _

"_Berry, I need your help."_

_Normally, she would chew him out for the use of her last name but she sensed the urgency in his tone. _

"_I'll be right there," she answered automatically. _

"_Berry, wait…have you ever had the chicken pox?"_

_With a yes, she told him to just stay put and she would be over. She pulled up the Puckerman household and ran up the path to the front door, still dressed from dance class. Puck having seen her park at the curb, opened the front door looking stressed._

"_What's wrong? Are you ill?" she asked looking for signs of the horrid childhood disease but discovered none. _

"_No it's Sarah. She's got the chicken pox and a fever. We need Motrin and calamine lotion. I can't leave her." _

"_I'll stay. I've incurred chicken pox twice as a child."_

_Puck placed a kiss to Rachel's forehead and led her to Sarah. The little girl was in her pajamas wrapped in a blanket and crying softly. _

"_Sar, I'm gonna to go to the store to get some stuff to make you better. Rachel is gonna stay with you."_

_Sarah nodded, choking on a sob. _

"_Go," Rachel said, squeezing his hand to comfort him in leaving her. "Get some oatmeal bath and juice too."_

_He disappeared from view and Rachel went into caretaker mode, changing the movie that had now rolled into the credits and hugged the little girl, patting her arm comfortingly so as to not make her any itchier. _

"_Your brother will be home soon and we'll get you feeling better in no time." _

_Thankfully, Puck didn't make her a liar and Rachel's comforting turned to bossing but Puck didn't care. He was too freaked out to know what to do. Rachel took the bags from him and told him to carry Sarah upstairs for a bath. _

_Rachel ran the water, put in the oatmeal before shooing him out. He stood by the door in case they needed anything but it was clear that Rachel had it under control. Berry's voice wafted under the small crack from the bottom of the door, singing music from Beauty and the Beast. _

_Puck smiled. Rachel was officially a lifesaver. _

The memories kind of all flowed like that. So much so that Puck didn't realize that Kurt had taken a seat next to him, a distasteful look on his face at his surroundings. Before Puck could tell the stylist to buzz off, Kurt got serious.

"We need to talk," Kurt said simply.

& ! & ! & ! & !

Aubrey Isaacs rubbed at her temples as the phone on her desk rang yet again that afternoon. At this rate, she would never again see the light of day outside of the precinct. She had mountains of paperwork to finish and phone calls kept interrupting her.

"Isaacs," she barked as she picked up the phone and continued to type a detailed report of the domestic violence case she had been called to at the crack of dawn that morning.

"This is Detective Hayden in Lima, Ohio. I got passed to you by command."

"Yes, and?" she said, not really in the mood to get dicked around when she had stuff she could be working on.

"Apparently, you responded to an call with a Rachel Berry in your jurisdiction. There's been another incident with her family in Ohio."

Aubrey stopped typing and closed her eyes wearily. This was not going to be an early night.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** So sorry about the cliff hanger in the last chapter but it seems like you guys were not expecting it and it gave that chapter a good ending. I promised a new chapter soon and here it is. I appreciate everyone reads and reviews so thanks for sticking with me!

**Chapter Nine**

Kurt shifted on the bar stool and frowned at the empty peanut shells and liquor that were littered over the surface of the bar that the bartender couldn't be bothered to clean up.

"So you're in one piece. Thank God, because you've got Rachel sitting in the suite demanding the Chief Constable take action immediately as if you were kidnapped by soccer hooligans and being held for ransom or something," Kurt informed him, "And the rest of us tasked with looking for you. Not my idea of sightseeing in London, mind you."

"Sorry," Puck mumbled and Kurt's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Are you feverish?" he asked looking to test Puck's temperature with his hand, but he ducked out of the way and threatened the health of said hand if he came any closer.

"Can you just leave me the fuck alone? That's really all I want." A simple request in Puck's eyes but apparently it was not the least bit realistic for the stylist.

"Seriously, I wish I could but Rachel's involved so that's going to be a no. She got me out of retail," Kurt said with a shudder. "The girl has my loyalty forever. I will help her in any way I can and that includes giving you a pep talk."

Puck literally heard only the last two words that Hummel said because if there was one thing that the stylist had inherited from spending so much time with Berry, it was how much he talked.

"Pep talk?" he repeated incredulously.

"Clearly you and Rachel have something going on…whatever it is, I don't think anyone knows. But the four of us not involved in this vie privée see the sparks and are on the verge of locking you two in a closet until you come to your senses." Puck groaned exasperatedly. It was bad enough that Quinn had inserted herself into things earlier, but now Hummel was doing the exact same thing. All he needed now was his mother to get involved and life would be perfection.

"Talk it out big guy," Kurt said and patted his shoulder delicately. Puck glared. "Look you can give me your best withering stare but we both know the nearest dumpster is out back and with whatever buzz you still have from earlier, you can't throw me in there alone. And plus, this outfit is Alexander McQueen, the final collection. Injure it and there would be serious consequences."

Puck smiled at the lack of oomph behind Kurt's threat but stayed silent. He was not looking for a confidant. But the smile quickly fell as Kurt laid it on the line, as only someone who had stayed close to Rachel over the years could and who demanded to know that his friend would not get hurt before anything even started.

"I'll give it to you as straight as I can. You need to figure this out. Because the minute Rachel feels uncomfortable or like this won't work, Quinn will replace you. Rachel comes first."

"Rachel comes first for me too…I…I care for her," he finally admitted which made Kurt bounce on the stool a little, earning him a glare from the bartender. Kurt could care less at how the bartender felt – hearing that Puck had some sort of romantic feelings for the actress who was positively fretting over his whereabouts was more than he could stand.

"You like her! I knew it! Now why can't you just say that to Miss Diva and be done with it?"

"I don't want to fuck with her life. She's worked too hard to get where she is and I don't want to come in and suddenly bulldoze it all. My track record doesn't say that I'll do much else."

"Rachel sees the good in you – that's why she hired you in the first place. If romantic feelings have sprung from that, don't fight it. Because this whole ping pong match that you two have been playing during the past two weeks is killing us."

Puck held back a snort. Killing them? Try living it. Puck finished the beer and paid his tab before allowing Kurt to drag him back to the hotel smugly. He wondered how long he had been in the pub because the sky was growing lighter by the minute. He was sure he was going to get an earful from Rachel about running off and worrying everyone and honestly, it made him smirk. It was the little things about her that drove him crazy but kept him hooked. He couldn't wait to let her know what he was feeling.

Quinn was waiting at the elevator and shook some of the light rain from her umbrella that had begun to fall on their way back from the bar. Seeing her, Kurt ran ahead and informed her of what he had learned. She didn't chew him out or chastise him for running out and if there was any emotion that he witnessed on her face, it was encouragement. Maybe he needed to start believing that everyone wanted this to work out, that they too thought he was good for Rachel in some weird way. The three walked into the suite and heard Puck's phone ringing relentlessly from its place on the coffee table.

"Hello?" he answered warily, not recognizing the number.

"Noah Puckerman please," the female voice said tiredly.

"This is he."

"This is Detective Isaacs calling from Los Angeles."

Puck's stomach dropped as soon as she introduced herself on the phone. Her tone certainly did not sound like she was just checking in for shits and giggles.

"Did something happen?" he asked automatically

"Yes," Aubrey answered tersely. "I got a call from the Lima PD. There was a disturbance at Miss Berry's childhood home. 415 Willow Street?"

"That's her address. And her fathers?" he choked out, pinching the bridge of his nose. Hearing him reaffirm Rachel's address and ask about Thomas and Daniel Berry, Quinn and Kurt looked on worriedly as they listened to his half of the conversation.

"I don't have very many details. The detective was still working the scene when he called to fill me in."

"Listen not to be an asshole but cut to the chase. What exactly happened to Rachel's fathers?"

"Their car windows were smashed in and the paint had MINE keyed into it on the trunk. Detectives also collected over one hundred surveillance photos of Rachel. They're recent too. There's photos of her in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton the day I came over there for the flower delivery."

Hearing this information made Puck sick. This person clearly had access to Rachel's schedule, had followed them to Los Angeles and they couldn't figure out how to catch the guy?

"How do we stop this person? We've done everything you said – limited access to her schedule, had someone with her at all times and yet this guy is still getting to her and her loved ones."

"First, we have to figure out who the person is. I'm getting surveillance pulled from the hotel the day you arrived and we're hoping for some DNA in Lima. If the guy was stupid and left something, we'll finally have a leg up."

Aubrey told him to call no matter the time difference if anything else happened and Puck hung up.

"Please tell me that they're okay, that this _asshole_ did not hurt her fathers." Quinn pleaded, her green eyes shining with unshed tears.

"I can't answer that yet Q. Detective Isaacs only had basic details. But if you have her home number, I'm going to call over there myself."

Kurt excused himself to tell Rachel that Puck had been located and that everyone was fine. It was good that the audience was dwindling because Puck was already dreading making this phone call. But taking a seat on the couch, Puck dialed to Lima to speak with Rachel's fathers. Quinn sat next to him, silently praying that the two men were all right. The girl wasn't half as religious as she was in high school (thank fuck) but he honestly didn't mind her throwing out some positive mojo. If Rachel's fathers were hurt in any fashion, it would absolutely break Rachel and Puck wanted nothing to hurt that girl.

"Hello Berry residence," Daniel Berry answered wearily.

Honestly, Puck was never so happy to hear the dude's voice

"Mr. Berry, its Noah Puckerman."

"Noah, good to hear from you. I take it you've heard."

"Yes, I'm actually calling to see if you're alright."

"Thomas and I are fine. A bit shaken up but we'll get over that. We've been on the phone most of the morning to have cameras put up outside and to have a more sensitive alarm system installed."

"That's good to hear," Puck said and Quinn showed visible relief. "But maybe you two should get out of town while we're still in Europe? If this guy knows where you're at, there's no guarantee he won't come back and we want you safe. I know it will make Rachel feel better."

"Does she know?" Dan asked him and Puck could almost hear the man pacing.

"Not yet sir. Didn't want her to panic and charter a private plane to Ohio without all the details."

Dan chuckled and admitted that that sounded exactly like his Rachel.

"She's right about you, you know."

"What's that?" Puck asked, mouth suddenly dry

"You're an incredibly decent man that does not get the recognition that he should. Calling to check up on us was just one example of that. Rachel is very lucky to have you by her side."

Puck was stunned. Hearing the praise come from Rachel's father was unexpected but made him feel good. It was good to feel wanted and needed, even despite the fucked up situation.

"Th-thank you sir," he stuttered out, "I'll have Rachel call you later."

"Thank you. And Noah?"

"Yes sir?

"Make sir my daughter sees the Eiffel Tower at night. I know that it will take her breath away."

He bid the older man good-bye and hung up, immediately giving Quinn the good report.

"Thank God they're okay," she breathed hugging him tightly, "You're so strong Puck. I don't if I would have been able to make that call, so thank you." And with that she placed a kiss on his cheek, which bewildered him greatly.

"Q, look…" but he didn't get a chance to finish as the scene had been taken in by another.

"I'm such an idiot," Rachel spat before she turned quickly to flee the room.

"Go," Quinn said shoving him to follow her

"Rachel," he shouted and raced after her. She didn't stop and luckily he was able to catch her by the waist just before she could slam the bedroom door in his face and lock him out. "What you saw…that was nothing."

She took another step back out of his reach.

"Long embraces and a kiss do not seem like nothing, Noah."

"First of all, it was a kiss on the cheek. And she was just thanking me for doing something that she couldn't. Have I given you any other fucking reason to think I'm into Quinn?" Rachel looked at the floor refusing to meet his eyes or argue his point. "That's because I'm not. I'm not into her. And I think you know why. Now I hate to lay this all on you but I have to tell you something. And unfortunately it's serious."

Her eyes flew to his and she waited for him to say something.

"Noah, what happened?" she questioned softly when he didn't say anything.

"Rachel, there's no easy way to tell you this but something happened at your dad's place. I just got the call from the detective in L.A. Lima PD contacted her."

"Oh God," she mumbled and her knees buckled but Puck was there to stop her from collapsing. He gladly wrapped his arms around her to hold her up, rubbing a hand over her back to give her some of his strength. He immediately realized that he should have led with the positive news.

"They're fine, a little disturbed by the situation but they're more worried about you."

She pulled back to look in his eyes at the detail that he provided.

"You talked to them?"

"I called them right before you saw Quinn and I hug. She was thanking me for calling them because she wasn't sure that she could," Puck explained, "But I wanted to make sure I had all my information before I told you. They're going to get out of Lima while we're still in Europe, figured that might make them a little safer. Oh and call them later," he finished with a smirk.

He was expecting her to thank him and tell him that it was extremely thoughtful of him to do that for her. What he wasn't anticipating was for her to fist the front of his shirt and pull him down to kiss her. And kissing Rachel was so much better than thinking of it or even dreaming of it. His daydreams couldn't compare to how soft her lips were and the way her hair smelled faintly like vanilla. Puck focuses on the girl in front of him and slides his hands to her ass and hauls her against him, causing her to gasp into his mouth. Easily the sexiest fucking thing that he's ever heard and he files that away for later because there is no way in hell that this is the last time he is going to kiss his girl. She nips at his bottom lip and he wants to smirk because clearly, she wants more and he won't be the one to deny her.

"Oh shit," Mike said as he and Matt stumbled back into the suite, taking in the scene before them. Puck and Rachel shot apart like shrapnel. "Well Matty Fresh, looks like you win the pool. Shit, Chace is going to be so pissed that he was off by two days."

"Pool?" Rachel squeaked, looking at the two other members of her security detail with wide eyes.

"Chang, what the fuck?" Puck questioned. Everyone had been pushing them together and now he finds out that it was not only for Puck and Rachel to find happiness but because money was involved. Those sons of bitches. "How many people were in on this?"

"Um, us…Kurt, Quinn, Chace and that other dude."

"Adam?" Rachel offered

"Yeah, him. Pot was up to $400 to see when you two finally got your shit together and stopped playing footsie," Mike answered before clapping Matt on the back, "Guess you're picking up the tab tonight brother."

Puck flipped Chang off and pulled Rachel into the bedroom, slamming the door for privacy. Rachel giggled as he huffed in annoyance. He kissed her lips again only to have her separate from him and smack him lightly in the chest.

"I'm mad at you. You distracted me with your lips."

"How can you be mad? We haven't even defined what we are." She poked him in the chest informing him that it was his little disappearing act that she was upset with. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

"I believe you," Rachel said kissing him sweetly, "Just don't do that to me again."

Everything that she said held promise for what they were venturing into but he needed confirmation. He had been here before and he needed to hear from her before he dove headfirst. Because honestly, the last thing he needs is to not see the signs for shallow and break his fucking neck. Figuratively speaking, of course.

"Are we doing this Rachel?" he questioned, "This won't fuck up your world?"

"You're a part of my world Noah Puckerman."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Work has been so killer that this chapter came together very slowly, so I'm sorry for that. It's fluffy and it's moving some stuff forward. I may have left some clues as to who the stalker is in this chapter but nothing too obvious. Thank you for reading!

**Chapter Ten**

Puck checked in regularly with Aubrey, who reassured him that the forensics team was working to find something that it would some time for all the results to be in. Aubrey on the other hand, was on her way to Ohio to aid in the investigation and would call with news. Despite the latest game of cat and mouse and the constant threat of another encounter, Rachel put on another pretty dress and posed for the cameras at the London premiere of Batman.

If anyone knew something was wrong in Rachel's life, then they were psychic because from the huge smile on her face and the red satin Marchesa cocktail dress that she put to shame, Rachel looked like the happiest girl in the world and she made sure that she presented it that way in her red carpet interviews. Her biggest hassle was the red eye that the group was taking to Paris that night and the full day of press she had the next day, which made her interviewers chuckle with laughter.

His girl (fuck yeah, his girl) was the talk of the town and the crowd was shouting her name, which he knew made her feel amazing in all the darkness that the stalker piled on. It didn't hurt that Puck had been able to pull her under a dark staircase for a minute and kiss her senseless. He was certainly an opportunist.

Little did he know that the anonymity of their new relationship was about to be blown wide open.

The full day of press was tough on Quinn, Rachel and Mike who had all gone to the L'Hôtel, where the conference room had turned into junket central for the movie's actors and never ending rotation of reporters, photographers and bloggers streamed in throughout the day.

After pouring herself into bed late the night before, Quinn had only got a few hours of sleep before incessant knocking on their hotel room door in Paris the next morning woke her up. She was ready to kick ass, despite it being 11 am that morning. But upon seeing Adam and Chace through the peephole, she lost all fight and opened up to let them in. Chace looked super thrilled to be awake – leaning against the doorjamb with his eyes closed and very little other physical movement.

"Aw, someone needs coffee," she said and went into the small kitchen that the room offered and began to brew the liquid gold.

"Give me coffee and I might have to steal you away from him," Chace mumbled sleepily, "He woke me up too early."

"Just try it pretty boy," Adam jested pulling Quinn towards him. "I'm not losing this one without a fight."

Quinn giggled softly before taking Chace's side on the matter, because she would have loved to get a few more hours as well.

"You're lucky you're cute," she told Adam giving him a quick kiss. "I usually don't tolerate wake up calls that I didn't schedule."

"Maybe this will put me back in the plus column," he said with a smirk and handed her a plain brown paper bag.

"What's this?" she asked, eyebrow quirked

"Us Weekly. Rachel's on the bottom right cover. Figured it was worth the conversion rate in case you needed to kick some ass."

Quinn ripped the magazine out of the bag and immediately started to read upon finding the article. He didn't lie as there was a glossy two page spread of Rachel titled, "Hollywood's Hottest Summer Newcomer," the background a photo from the L.A. premiere with her in Elie Saab and another medium sized photo of her walking with Mike and Puck in New York.

_Rachel Berry is the latest Hollywood darling to make us fall in love with the movies this summer. Starring as Beckett Warner in the latest Batman installment, it seems like her job is pretty easy in having to kiss Gossip Girl hottie Chace Crawford. Not so much – a set insider tells us that Berry did all her own singing and stunts. You can find her appearing on the movie's soundtrack singing full version of the songs that heard in the movie, including Peggy Lee's hit Fever. _

_So who is Rachel Berry? Not in the Hollywood game long, this girl is a converted Broadway babe joining the ranks of Kristin Chenoweth and Taye Diggs who have found fame off the Great White Way. The 24-year-old starlet is from Lima, Ohio where she was raised by her two fathers. From an early age, she was immersed in dance classes and vocal training, which led to her being the female lead for William McKinley High School's glee club New Directions as well as participating in many of the school's other extracurricular activities. _

_Since getting discovered on the stage by wife of Batman director Christopher Nolan for her role in this summer's hottest blockbuster, Berry had also had a small role in the romantic comedy 'Lexington Avenue' with Jennifer Garner and Patrick Dempsey. Contracted through at least the next installment in the Batman franchise (which will also have Crawford and Quinto reprising their roles), audiences should expect 'to see a big change in Beckett' adds our set insider. Filming for the next installment is set to start shooting next year. Until then, our industry spies tells us that Ms. Berry is rumored to join with Mad Men hunk Jon Hamm on a project and that Rob Reiner has his sights on her for a his upcoming romantic comedy with her in the lead role. Not too shabby for this darling newcomer. And personally, we can't wait to see where this girl goes. _

"Oh thank God," Quinn said, letting go of a breath that she didn't even know that she had been holding. The main article didn't say anything that needed a fire extinguisher so she went to the sidebar that had pictures of her, Mike, Matt, Kurt and Puck. Mike and Matt's blurbs simply stated how they knew Rachel and what they had been doing before they had been pulled onto security duty.

_Quinn Fabray is the mama bear of the group and manages Rachel's career with a combined iron fist and feather light touch. Fiercely protective of the star, good luck getting a comment from Fabray or the actress herself. We called four times and got no comment. _

"That's because you're a tabloid," she yelled at the magazine, which caused Chace to raise his eyebrows. "Sorry," she muttered. Adam handed her a cup of coffee and she continued to read what else the magazine had printed about her and the others.

_A graduate of NYU, Fabray started at a large PR firm where she was a small fish in a big pond. Berry handpicked Fabray to represent her after her first manager was no longer able to represent her. It's recently been confirmed that the blonde beauty (who apparently has a set of pipes of her own) found romance with Adam Shipley, Chace Crawford's manager. _

Quinn nodded, satisfied that overall they had painted a fair picture of her.

_Kurt Hummel is Berry's on the rise stylist who has an eye for the extreme but pulls it all together for what we've seen on Berry in her outings. A fashion design major from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, he started out at Barneys in sales before Berry brought into her small professional circle. Now, the stylist is also one of Berry's closest confidants. We wonder what scandalous things that boy has been privy to. _

"Scandalous, pfft," Quinn muttered knowing that the most scandalous thing about Rachel was that she liked to put moisturizer on her hands and slip on gloves before she went to bed at night. Quinn knew that Kurt was going to both appreciate and bemoan his section in the sidebar – they didn't out him, which meant that any unwarranted prejudice was still avoidable but at the same time Ricky Martin would not be calling him to be his date to next year's Latin Grammy Awards.

_Noah Puckerman is Berry's reformed bad boy turned head of security. The former exotic car mechanic has quite a history from our research (a juvenile detention record, school suspensions and even relations with the female member of the Berry entourage previously mentioned in this sidebar). Seemingly now on the right path, Puckerman is proof that they grow them especially well in the Midwest. But here's this for a bombshell – at press time, we heard that this head of security has taken bodyguard __**literally**__. He and Rachel were caught locking lips behind a staircase at the London premiere of the movie. Check out the cute couple out and about in NYC in Hot Pics at the front of the issue. _

"Oh shit," Quinn cursed loudly and she very nearly threw her mug of hot coffee onto the coffee table, which caused Adam and Chace to both stop in their tracks. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" she repeated, bolting from her spot on the couch and into the boy's room. "Puckerman!" she yelled and all she got were groans to be quiet in response. Rolling the magazine, she smacked him with it.

"What devil spawn?" he groaned

"Better call your mother and tell her about Rachel or else you'll be castrated. Us Weekly just blew the lid off the two of you."

This woke him up. Even at 25, Sarah Puckerman was no one to screw with. He had no idea what Quinn was talking about but he didn't want to chance shit.

"What?" he asked needing further clarification. She opened the article and shoved the magazine under his nose, pointing to the sidebar. "Oh fuck."

"Yeah, you got the worst of it." His mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. Handing him her Blackberry, he accepted it and stood. "It's international and I have a feeling this is going to be a long phone call."

"Thanks," he said and started to dial.

"Hey, don't let her ground you until after we get back to New York okay?" she teased with a snicker.

"Har, har," he replied flipping her off.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

"How did your mother take the news?" Rachel asked Puck as they sat in the back of the black Suburban.

Puck had a surprise for her and she was trying to keep her giddiness in check by focusing on a topic of another nature. They hadn't been dating long enough for him to warrant surprises but she was over the moon that he had taken such initiative.

"I lost part of my hearing and then I think I heard her do handsprings," he replied wryly.

Telling his mother that he and Rachel were dating had been an interesting encounter. Thankfully, it was from across an ocean. Sarah Puckerman had screamed and then got entirely too nosy.

"_Oh Noah, I'm so excited! I told you that you two were meant for each other." _

"_Ma… Christ, chill. We've been together less than a week. Stop planning the goddamn wedding."_

Although he was glad to have that all out of the way, he would have liked to wait until they were a little more established to have told his mother. Stupid fucking tabloid now had his mother on his case about Rachel. If he ended up in therapy, he was totally sending them the fucking bill.

"So where are you taking me?" she asked, her big brown eyes questioning. Even with the small amount of the light that flashed into the car from city lights, her eyes sparkled.

"Nice try babe," he said kissing her cheek. "It's a surprise. But I did promise your dad that I would do this."

"Is that a hint?" she asked

"Take it as you wish," Puck answered with a chuckle, which made her pout like a five year old.

Alain, their driver, smirked into the rearview and followed Puck's instructions to take as many backstreets as possible. Rachel rested her head on Puck's shoulder and he ran his hands through her hair gently, causing her to close her eyes. This was really the first time they had been all alone since they started seeing each other and she could truly admit to herself that it was extremely calming.

"Thank you for taking me out. I hope Quinn didn't' give you too much trouble," she said quietly and he knew instantaneously that the fast paced nature of her life, especially on this premiere schedule was starting to wear her down. He hoped that the little surprise that they were about to stumble upon would put a smile on her face.

"Quinn's currently in the Puckerone corner, so it wasn't too hard to swing some alone time."

The car slowed to a stop and Alain turned to face him.

"Monsieur, is this close enough?"

Rachel quickly sat up and looked out the window of the car. She saw the base of the Eiffel Tower, not five hundred feet away which caused her to gasp. Rachel looked back at Puck, who grinned.

"Figured you don't get to sight see much and your dads thought you would love to see the Eiffel Tower at night." The brunette beauty cupped his cheek and gently kissed him. "I'll take that as a yes," he said teasingly before she squealed happily and moved to get out of the car.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Aubrey shifted a duffle bag onto her shoulder as she pushed open the glass door into the Lima Police Department. With the potential for this case to become very high profile considering that Rachel Berry was a rising star, her superiors wanted this handled immediately. So they put her on the first plane to Ohio must to her enjoyment. She didn't go to the hotel upon arrival, first wanting to meet Detective Roy Hayden of the Lima PD and was crossing her fingers that he had some new piece of information for her.

Aubrey stopped one of the plain-clothes officers milling about and asked for Detective Hayden, who was pointed out to be the officer in the corner, seemingly finishing up a phone call.

"I'll be right there, good work," Detective Hayden finished enthusiastically before hanging up the receiver. Aubrey approached the desk and dropped her duffle to the ground, flashing her own badge on her hip and handing him her business card.

"Aubrey Isaacs, Threat Unit, LAPD. We spoke on the phone about me coming out here to get this sick fuck off the streets."

"Yes, of course. I appreciate the help. Thomas Berry is a good friend and it turns my stomach that someone is dicking around with Rachel."

"I'd like to see everything that you collected at the crime scene as soon as possible," Aubrey said as she threw her long blonde hair up into a ponytail.

"That's gonna have to wait," Hayden told her as he threw on his jacket. "We just got a call from the lab. They picked up clean footprints from the scene."

"And?" Aubrey questioned impatiently. She had been hoping for DNA and this hit did not seem promising. Going to the lab seemed like a waste of time unless Hayden was about to say that Rachel's stalker stepped on a rusty nail or something.

"According to the lab, the asshole wore limited edition Ferragamo loafers."

"How many were made total?" she immediately asked, the foot print discovery suddenly looking up.

"500. Worldwide."

Thank God she had gotten a few hours of sleep on the plane because she knew that she was be existing on Red Bull and coffee until they started to break down the owners in the United States.

They might have actually taken a step in the right direction.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Puck found it hard to describe the experience they had in Tokyo as it felt like they had been there for a total of five minutes. The city had been full of lights (fucking loads of them), tons of people and the best damn sushi he'd ever had (even if he had to take off his shoes to eat). With stalker extraordinaire laying low, he breathed easier but kept a watchful eye over Rachel. They were all in the car on the way back from the premiere, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder when she offered her naïve thoughts to everyone present.

"Maybe he's done…maybe he realizes what a bad ass security team I have keeping me safe."

He didn't want to call her thoughts stupid but that's exactly what it was. It lay heavy on his tongue but Puck felt Quinn pinch his thigh, warning him to not say anything regarding the conference call that both of them had been part of the day prior. The studio had invested a cool million for an updated ride at Six Flags New Jersey. With such good box office numbers, they were merchandising the shit out of the film. He and Quinn were not pleased with the appearance at the amusement park but had no choice but to accept by the end of the phone call.

"Do you even care that this sick fuck has terrorized her fathers as well?" Puck argued to which Quinn mouthed "Language" and he just rolled his eyes.

Mr. Bill Robertson, aka Mr. Studio Dick was not playing ball. He wanted Rachel at the amusement park, stalker or not. What was the point of having a Batman but no love interest to spice things up? Chace was already signed on.

"The studio sent its condolences to Ms. Berry's fathers but we haven't heard of another issue since then. Seems to us that the threat has dissipated. Unless there's something you're not sharing with us…"

"Not but…"

"Then Ms. Fabray will add the appearance to her calendar."

Puck mouthed to Quinn for her to say something, to go to bat for her similar concerns but instead she said nothing and took copious notes.

"What about crowd control? The premieres had barricades and event staff. How is this thing going to go?"

Mr. Studio Dick chuckled and Puck instantly wished that they were in the same room instead of just on a phone. He would wipe the snide grin that he knew the guy was wearing right off his fucking face for thinking that Rachel was some chess piece that could just be moved to his liking so that the studio could sell more lunchboxes and action figures.

"This thing? Son," Mr. Robertson started, making Puck grit his teeth, "I've been in this business a lot longer than all three of you combined. This thing will go smoothly because a great deal is riding on it. So keep your shirt on, otherwise, we can discuss breaking Ms. Berry's contract for the next movie."

Puck sucked in a sharp breath and Quinn immediately launched into an apology, saying that that was not what anyone wanted. She promised the appearance would go on the calendar and hung up, before promptly bringing up the airline's website to change their tickets. Puck stared at her baffled. Wasn't Quinn worried for Rachel's safety? This exec dick didn't and now Rachel's employees…hell, her friend had to.

"What the fuck was that? Could you have kissed his ass anymore? Better yet, dropped to your knees and…"

"Enough Puck…" she said sharply, green eyes blazing. "Don't start with me."

"Oh, I'm gonna start with you. Doesn't this make you uneasy at all? The fact that mystery ass has laid low. The parked will be crowded…you know that security will be lax. They just feel up your bag and let you in. Rachel…"

Quinn pushed her chair back from the table and with her hands on her hips, laid into him. Despite not showing much thought on the phone call, she had clearly done so in silence.

"Loves her career. If you want to go tell her that she's not going to be in the next film because we made that decision for her then be my guest. I know the diet that she was on to look amazing in that red dress in the movie. I saw the bruises she got from doing her own stunts. I saw how she lit up in the studio to record the songs for the soundtrack. You want to kill everything she's worked for, go ahead."

Fuck, she was right. She might piss him off to no end but Quinn was right in the sense that Rachel loved what she was doing, stalker or not. Ever since high school, she had worked hard to be the best. Now that she was just beginning to show people what she was made of, to stop that would be like telling Little Orphan Annie to stop singing about tomorrow. Shit, now he was thinking terms of musicals. He really was dating Rachel Berry.

"I hate when you're right," he mumbled.

"I don't like being right in this case," she responded taking a seat. "In fact, it makes me nauseous because I've had this awful feeling for days that something is going to happen and I can't shake it. And I'm scared. The only thing that has gotten me through is the belief that we'll take care of her. Career takes a back seat to taking care of **her**."

There was lump in his throat in hearing Quinn verbalize her own fears. For so long, she has been the definition of things working out. To hear the blonde finally admit that she was scared shitless was upsetting but that she cared for Rachel more than the brunette's career was oddly comforting at the same time.

He had finally gotten her. He wasn't giving her up without a hell of a fight.

"We've got her Q, we'll take care of her."

& ! & ! &! & ! &

A very tired six travelers arrived back at Rachel's building the day after the premiere and a great deal of time spent on an airplane. They were convening in the star's living room before Quinn and Kurt would go to their own apartments and the guys would shoot for the couch, guest bedroom and floor in Rachel's place.

"What makes you think you're sleeping solo?" Rachel asked, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up at him mischievously. He quirked an eyebrow because honestly the way things had been going on their rapid premiere journey had still ended with Quinn and Rachel sharing a room. She insisted that they take things slow and he was for it.

"Awkward…" Matt said singsong rubbing the back of his neck as Mike started to whistle.

"If you two don't want to stay at the love palace, there's room on my couch," Quinn offered teasing the couple.

"Everyone's a comedian," Rachel said, standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss.

"Ignore them babe. They're just jealous," Puck offered

"Oh yes, insanely jealous at the prospect of you two having sex with your friends in the next room," Mike responded sarcastically, lifting the handle to his suitcase and starting to drag it to the door.

Rachel blushed furiously and Puck quickly remedied the situation by punching Chang in the arm.

The elevator couldn't take all six of them at once so Puck, Kurt and Mike went up first, all of them very ready for the jet lag to conquer and for some sleep before the appearance at Six Flags tomorrow. Puck opened up the door to the apartment and let the two walk in front as he made light conversation.

"What does one dress a starlet in for tomorrow Hummel?" Puck asked

"I'm still debating…" Kurt started to answer before he sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Do you smell that?"

Puck took a deep breath through his nose and immediately knew it wasn't a gas leak or the air conditioning unit on the fritz. It smelled metallic. It was rank but it was there.

He took a step farther into the apartment and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"I'm going to take a look around," he said, "Mike, check out the kitchen."

Puck headed in the direction of the bedroom. Nothing was out of place in the hallway – pictures of Rachel and her friends hung as mementos on the wall, the curtains to her windows were neat and tidy. But the smell got more intense as he approached Rachel's room.

"All clear," he heard Mike shout.

Puck stepped into the bedroom and immediately wanted to vomit.

"Chang, get in here!" he barked, "Hummel, keep the others the fuck out of here. Tell Rachel anything to keep her out of here."

He heard Mike run up behind him and the boy dry heaved at the sight before them.

Rachel's bedroom had been ransacked. The bed frame had been flipped over, the mattress on the floor was ripped maniacally and what smelled and looked like blood was smeared on the walls. The mirror from the vanity was now just shards of glass. The pictures that Rachel had on her bedside table were hardly visible under the cracked glass of the frame. The bedroom that Puck remembered seeing prior to leaving for Los Angeles was a far cry from what was in front of them now.

"Sick fuck," Mike muttered.

"Call Aubrey," Puck said throwing his phone at his friend. "I have to see Rachel."

Puck stalked out of the apartment into the hallway where he needed a moment before he could go and find Rachel. He rested his hands on his knees and took a couple of deep breaths. He hadn't been expecting something like that to be in her room. It was honestly horrific. His hands curled into fists at the thought of this guy, knowing where she lived and getting inside her home. How had he gotten past the doorman or hell, the alarm system? All questions he needed answers to right fucking now.

He grabbed the elevator and took it down to the lobby where he found Rachel freaking out at Kurt telling her that she couldn't go up to her apartment. Upon seeing him, she rushed into his arms. He held her tightly because the shit that he had just encountered was enough to finally scare him.

"Noah, what is going on? Why can't I go upstairs?"

"Rach…you don't want to go upstairs."

Tears quickly filled her brown eyes as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"He got into my apartment didn't he?"

"Yes," he answered simply. Quinn gasped and she covered her mouth in shock.

"What about the alarm system?" the blonde asked. Puck knew that Quinn was thinking about the bad feeling that she had been carrying around and how it had finally presented itself.

"We'll have to figure out how they got passed it. Mike is getting Aubrey on the phone. She may have someone here on the force to come look at the room."

"You'll stay with me tonight," Quinn reassured the actress.

Rachel shook her head at Quinn's offer and pushed away from Puck, which made him itch to hold her again. Holding her let him know that she was okay. That he had done his job in protecting her. Her pulling away meant the sick fuck was winning…that he was breaking Rachel down completely.

"I just want to be alone if that's okay. I'll get a hotel room. Noah, can you take me over to the Four Seasons?"

"Rachel…" Puck started. He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news but she really should not be staying alone with the current state of affairs.

"Noah, it's not a request."

The look on her face dared him to challenge her. He wouldn't, at least not in front of everyone. Rachel hugged each one of her friends before she went out to the sidewalk with Puck and Eddie expertly hailed them a cab. Puck slid in after her, not sure what to say on the trip uptown.

"I'm not comfortable with this," he eventually said as she sat quietly, watching the buildings fly by as the driver weaved in and out of traffic.

"Just figure out who this guy is and what he wants and things will be okay," she reassured him with a watery smile.

Puck hauled her against his side to relish in her physical closeness for a few more minutes before he had to leave her. He kissed her forehead and fucking prayed that the hotel had better security than her apartment building.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

**HALF AN HOUR EARLIER – LIMA, OHIO**

"Here," Detective Hayden said holding out a new cup of mediocre coffee brewed in the police department's tiny kitchen.

Aubrey accepted it gratefully, her eyes still pouring over the photograph of the footprint that the lab estimated and comparing it to the list of shoe purchasers in the United States. Gathering the list had been difficult enough but with only a limited number of units and places that sold them, it had not taken as long as it could have.

On the other hand, going through the list was tedious as shit but the sooner they reduced the number on their list of suspects, the sooner Aubrey would sleep better for Rachel Berry's sake.

The footprint from the crime scene was a size 10. The shoe had been sold in sizes 8 to 13, which allowed for 400 purchasers to be knocked off the list automatically due to production numbers. Still, 100 people was not the smallest amount of possible suspects to work with.

"How could only 20 of the size 10s be purchased outside the US?" she complained

"I don't do fashion," Hayden said pointing to his plain suit that he wore to the job. He took a few pages that she was studying and continued to go through the list.

"I just want this guy caught," Aubrey muttered as she crossed out another name of a guy who purchased the shoes in Italy.

"Don't we all?" Hayden responded as he slashed another name. "Wait a second…"

"What?" Aubrey said still scrutinizing her list.

"This name…" her partner muttered, shoving the papers into her view. "Isn't that someone who has access to her? To her friends?"

Aubrey flipped through the case file that she had developed since getting involved. Low and behold, the name matched.

"Looks like we're going to New York."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N**: Thank you to everyone who continues to read and review. It seriously makes my day and gives me drive to produce another chapter quicker for you all. Many good guesses for who the stalker is but I think you'll all be surprised by this chapter and the next one as the identity starts to be revealed.

**Chapter Twelve**

The broken glass crunched under Aubrey's Nikes as she and Detective Hayden of Lima PD surveyed the newest crime scene in the Rachel Berry stalker case. Truthfully, she was a young detective at 26 but in her time on the force as a uniformed cop and now a detective, she had seen a great deal. Assault, rape, murder – everyday heinous acts of mankind. But this guy was new. He didn't pull the same stunts. He was creative. He was vindictive.

"What do you think?" Puck asked from his spot in the doorway, Mike and Matt looking on from behind him.

"This guy clearly is upping the ante."

"And what does that mean exactly? Are we going to find this guy or what?" he asked angrily.

He was cranky as all hell. Puck walked her into the hotel, assuring her that he could get another cab back to her apartment and that he wanted to make sure that she was safe. The hotel clerk had greeted them cheerily despite the two of them looking morose as fuck. Rachel checked in under the name Fanny Brice, which made the attendant's face screw up a little bit in confusion before she just did her job. He walked her to the elevator and she kissed him, before pressing the up button and getting into the elevator without him. They both knew that if he got on the elevator to make sure she got to her room, he wouldn't leave and he sincerely wanted to respect her wishes as fucked up as he found them.

Being separated from Rachel had made him a fucking miserable person to deal with and the others left him alone because of it. He had gone back to Quinn's apartment and slept fitfully on the couch until Aubrey called that she had landed and was headed straight to Rachel's. Never mind that it just past 4 am, the three guys got up, got dressed and headed over there as well. As the girl had examined the crime scene with her partner from their home state, the three watched pensively.

The sun was just starting to make the briefest appearance in the sky when Aubrey told them that they had a lead.

"Sorry to point out the obvious," Matt started, "But shouldn't we be moving on that lead?"

"Yes and no. We need more information and we need a search warrant to look in his apartment."

"So it is a he? What the fuck kind of guy picks on a 100 pound, 5 foot nothing girl?"

"A coward," Detective Hayden answered Puck quietly as he pulled off the plastic gloves that he wore so as to not contaminate any of the evidence.

"So who is it?" Puck asked

"Listen dumpling, as involved in this as you are, I can just give you the name of the current suspect. I'm sure you'd be off like a shot to go break his jaw before I could blink."

'Dumpling?' Mike mouthed to Matt and he shrugged.

"Now, I'm desperately needing some coffee and food before the two of us keep working. Who's up for breakfast? I'm buying," Aubrey said before heading out of the bedroom leaving Puck irritated beyond belief.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Rachel stared idly out the window of her hotel room, a mug of coffee in her hands that she had ordered from room service. She was waiting for Kurt to arrive and dress her for the appearance at Six Flags today. It was absolutely the last thing that she wanted to do today but she had no choice. Despite placing a call to Mr. Robertson after she had checked in last night, he had been only slightly sympathetic.

He promised that the studio would pay for her hotel room and any charges she incurred, but that was not what Rachel wanted and he couldn't give Rachel what she desired.

"_Miss Berry, honestly we are very sorry for the current situation but my hands are tied. There's a huge cardboard cutout of you set up at the entrance alongside one for Chace and Zachary. Do you know how much money the studio will lose if you aren't there tomorrow?"_

"_I'm sorry…I'm just not comfortable…"_

"_We all have to do things we're not comfortable with Miss Berry. Your security team will be there and the event staff is on alert."_

And that's where the conversation died. Not wanting to press her luck and get cut from the next movie, she agreed that she would be there. But even as good an actress as she was, her heart would not be in it.

Kurt's signature knock came upon the door and Rachel went to door. Checking the peep hole before opening up, she saw her friend and stylist with large sunglasses on and holding a maroon garment bag.

"Good morning diva," he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "How did you sleep?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess," she replied with a shrug.

"Matt sent me a message this morning. Turns out that someone else didn't sleep well either."

_Noah_. Rachel bit her bottom lip as she stayed quiet. She didn't want to be the cause of him not sleeping, of him being worried for her so much so that it consumed him.

"Diva, do you want him here while we get you ready? I'm sure he'd be happy to hear from you and feel that you need him."

Her eyes filled with tears and she looked up at the ceiling, willing them to not fall.

"It…it doesn't make me weak?" she asked, her voice so small that if Kurt hadn't been listening for her, he might have missed it.

Kurt quickly deposited the garment bag and folded the actress into his embrace.

"No, it makes you human." Kurt pressed his phone into her hand. "Call him. I'll set up some stuff in the bathroom."

Rachel gently wiped away some tears and did as Kurt instructed.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

His morning got infinitely better upon hearing Rachel's voice come through his phone. Even more so when she asked him to come to the hotel to be with her while Kurt got her ready for their drive and subsequent appearance at the New Jersey amusement park. Puck jumped in the first cab he could after knowing that Mike and Matt had everything under control with Aubrey and the other detective dude.

Now the trio waited at the curb for the black Navigator that would take them across state lines to the little slice of heaven known as New Jersey. Rachel was tucked against his side as he kept a watchful eye out for suspicious activity.

"You two are sickeningly cute," Kurt told them, observing them from behind Burberry sunglasses

Before Puck could combat with him verbally, the sleek black car pulled up to the curb and Cooper jumped out to open the door for Rachel which she once again reminded him that he didn't have to do.

"Coop, my man!" Puck greeted exuberantly, bumping fists with the older gentleman who had shit ton more patience than he did to deal with the traffic in this city, "What's been good?"

"Not much Puck, it's been quiet without you kids," he said with a laugh.

Cooper knew what was going on – he had to be told so that he knew what exactly to expect from the job.

"We're going to take the Holland to the turnpike south, then take Exit 7A. I've got directions from there," Puck offered and a reassuring pat on the back from the driver, he climbed in after Rachel who made herself comfortable next to him.

With some inevitable city traffic holding them up in the tunnel, the trip turned into the longest two hours of Puck's life. Although he produced a cool, calm exterior for the girl next to him, he was wracking his brain with everything that could go wrong and how he would deal with it. But soon enough, they were pulling into the special entrance of the park and it was time for game face.

They all exited the car, with Quinn and Kurt immediately flanking Rachel's sides while the three boys fell in step in a protective outer circle. A park representative led them to the staging area where Chace and Zachary were waiting, their own teams working behind them. Adam greeted Quinn with a kiss but the two kept things professional as Quinn filled him in on what they had found at Rachel's the day prior. Adam offered his sympathy and said that if she ever needed, he had a spare bedroom in his Park Avenue apartment, which Rachel thanked him profusely for offering.

"How are you doing?" Puck asked Rachel quietly, arm curled around her midsection possessively. Under the privacy of the staging area, he really didn't give a crap who saw the affection he offered. Basically everyone present knew what the situation was between him and Rachel.

"I'll be much more calm and reassured when this appearance is over and we can go back to the city and relax with some room service."

"I like the way you think babe," he replied, kissing her temple.

The park representative came back to the group and told them that they were on and the three costars walked out first, the entourage behind them. Puck didn't like being separated Rachel but he could see the fluorescent yellow shirts of the park security in enough locations to knock his anxiety down a peg or two.

Flashes went off as audience members and press took pictures of the stars. Chace said a few words about how thankful he was to be a part of the new Batman installments and he was sure that he spoke for his costars when he said it. He handed the microphone off to Rachel and once she smiled broadly, Puck knew that she would be the actress that everyone expected her to be despite her heart not being in it.

"To just add onto what Chace already said, I just want to say thank you for the support you have given the film. We have big shoes to fill when it comes to the actors that have played Batman, that have played his enemy and his love interest and we are so thankful that you have gone to see it and that you enjoyed it. We get up every morning on a movie set to do what we love for you all. So thank you!"

His girl nailed it. She quickly passed the microphone to Zachary who just reiterated what the other two and promised the crowd that the next film would be just as good. The park's general manager took the mic and said that the stars would now take a ride on the new Black Mask's Great Descent, the latest Batman coaster to grace the park's sprawling campus.

"Oh shit," Puck muttered as Rachel turned to look at them, eyes wide. She wasn't entirely keen on the taking the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower but he had convinced her that she had to do and she did it because he was there with her. Rachel had confessed that she hated roller coasters with a fiery passion because of the height and the lack of control. It was no secret that she liked control and she felt like she had none when riding something like that. "Quinn, do something," he urged, "She's not going to go for this."

Pulling the park representative that stood with the entourages aside, Quinn had a brief, heated discussion with her. Quinn came away looking okay with the result.

"I couldn't get her out of it. But I got us in."

Rachel looked at him worriedly but he gave her a reassuring smile.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Rachel screamed her head off the ride and gripped Puck's hand so hard through the handlebars, he wondered for a second if he would have any feeling after they exited the ride. He hauled her against his side as they walked from the ride back to the staging area to go home.

"You did good babe," he complimented her, despite him still having a ringing in his ears due to her screams of terror.

"I'll believe that when full feeling returns to my extremities," Rachel replied wearily.

The group hadn't even made it back into the staging area when Puck noticed Aubrey, detective guy and two uniformed cops waiting. He didn't even have a chance to ask what was up as without a pause, Aubrey grabbed Adam by the arm and shoved him up against the wall and read him his rights and cuffed his hands behind his back.

"What is going on? Get your hands off him!" Quinn cried and went to pull Aubrey off Adam only to have one of the uniformed officers stop her. Puck left Rachel's side and pulled Quinn back from the waist, despite her struggling against his hold. He was confused as fuck as well but it wasn't worth getting arrested when they would find out the issue in a few minutes.

"Adam Shipley, you are under arrest for criminal mischief, stalking and harassment. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

Puck's eyes blazed as Aubrey finished charging Adam with the crime. Quinn's new boy toy was the cause of all the pain and anxiety for Rachel? Adam's mouth opened and closed like a fish, stunned as Aubrey pushed him harder against the wall to receive an answer.

"Yes," he stated and he looked at Quinn sadly. She had no words as the man in front of her seemingly admitted his guilt. The uniformed cops pulled Adam away and Aubrey stayed behind to brief the group who were all dealing with a myriad of emotions.

"Adam was in possession of shoes that matched the size and brand of the footprint at the crime scene as Rachel's father's house. There was also a 36 hour window where his whereabouts are unknown while you all were in London."

Quinn's eyes shot to Chace who looked a mix of confused and angry as well.

"Is that true? Where was he Chace?" Quinn asked as tears fell from her eyes and she

"He said he had to care of business back in New York but he would be back in time for the Paris premiere..." Chace answered, jaw set.

"Well, we don't know that he's the one…he can't be the one," Quinn said sadly, feeling like she truly didn't know the guy that she had been so up front with and intimate with in the past month.

Puck felt badly for Quinn and was happy that Kurt took her into his embrace. Rachel hadn't truly reacted to what had just went down and he didn't want to leave her side again.

"We're taking him to central booking back in the city. The courts will contact you with where and when Rachel has to appear for his trial," Aubrey said and walked off with Detective Hayden.

No one said anything for a few minutes. Zachary and his team bid their goodbyes leaving Chace, Rachel and the others to absorb the information.

"Fuck, this can't be happening," Quinn spat and ran her hands angrily through her hair. "He couldn't have done this."

"We won't know anything until the trial Quinn," Matt offered optimistically.

"Let's just get going. I'm going down to the station when we get back to the city."

She stalked off angrily, Kurt and the other boys hurrying behind her. Puck hung back with Rachel. Turning to face her, he rubbed her upper arms and asked how she was dealing.

"I can't really process that he was with us all this time and I never suspected a thing," she replied, "I feel so violated. And I just want to know what I did to make him…"

"Obsessed?" he offered

She nodded and leaned her forehead against his chest, taking a deep shaky breath. Even before Rachel's words, Puck wasn't so sure what to believe anymore.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **For those of you looking for signs regarding the stalker, there was really only one that I dropped that was probably a little too vague. Trying to keep the mystery alive probably throw you all off worked to my advantage. First attempt at Smuckleberry in this chapter, so be gentle.

**Chapter Thirteen**

The mood in the car was less than pleasant for all parties involved. Only the light volume of the jazz that Cooper favored filled the empty space that was not consumed by anger, tension and sadness. Puck could feel the emotions come off Quinn in waves as she sat in the passenger seat. She didn't cry anymore since they had left the park but he could tell she was extremely upset by what had happened with Adam. Rightfully so as the girl's track record in romance was not the most perfect (and he included himself in that assessment).

"I think everyone needs to just take some time and digest what happened today," Kurt announced to everyone from the back room where he and Rachel sat.

Puck agreed with him but he wasn't about to say that shit out loud. He would most certainly get his balls cut off by Quinn at any attempt that he made at playing Dr. Puck Freud.

They drove the city streets just as the streetlights came on and the quarter moon finally won out in the sky. Everyone was physically and emotionally tired. They pulled up to Rachel's apartment building and Cooper got out to get the door to which Puck smirked. The boys in the middle row got out so the stylist could exit from the very back of the car. He was set to retrieve some clothing for her to subside on as well as grab "absolutely darling YSL dress" for her interview on Jimmy Kimmel later than week. Mike took him upstairs because the two of them could get in and out quicker, avoiding prolonged presence with the still un-aromatic apartment.

Quinn made a frustrated noise at them taking so long and got out to grab a cab, ready to head to the 34th Precinct where Adam was set to be booked. Puck offered her a sad smile knowing that she was having an internal battle of heart versus head.

He wasn't ready for what happened next.

Two loud cracks rang out and Puck thought for an instant that it was a car backfiring. Quinn screamed as they saw Cooper drop to the ground. He grabbed Quinn by the waist and threw them down onto the pavement, him shielding her body from any further rounds. Puck lifted to see someone sprint off, shoving a gun in the back of his pants.

Matt had gotten off the ground and was checking Cooper's pulse.

"Call 911!" he shouted at Eddie as he pulled off his button up shirt and pressed it to the man's shoulder where he had been hit.

Quinn pushed Puck off her and climbed into the car. Rachel was watching the entire scene shell-shocked. She grabbed Puck by the shirt and ordered him to get her out of there.

"I can't just leave you guys!" he

"What if that guy comes back? Puck, get her out of here," she said once again.

With a frustrated cry, he got closed the back door and got into the driver's seat. He hit the gas pedal and pealed out towards the Four Seasons.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

She said nothing, made no hand gestures and didn't cry in the elevator up to her room. It was freaking Puck out to the nth degree as he watched her take a seat in the armchair and stare off into space.

Reaching into the mini bar, he grabbed a can of Coke and forced her to drink. She refused of course, which was the first words she had said to him since he had gotten into the driver's seat of the car but he urged her to follow his instruction.

"Come on…the sugar will take the edge of the shock," he coaxed and she took another few sips before the reality set in and she began to cry.

Puck hated when females cried around him, as he didn't know how to help. Truthfully, it had begun at early age when his mom had cried repeatedly, openly after his father had split. He knelt in front of her and held her as she cried.

"I got Cooper shot…God, how can you even want to be around me? I'm a magnet for danger at this point," she whispered as the tears dried up

"All right, shut up. I wouldn't be around you if I didn't want to be and I want to be."

She didn't argue at him telling her to shut up.

"Do you think this means that Adam didn't do it?" Rachel asked quietly as she looked him in the eye, "It's just too coincidental."

"I don't know babe," Puck replied, gently pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "I guess Aubrey will look into it and they'll figure it out. I'm just glad you're safe."

She pressed her lips heatedly to he was stunned for a few seconds before he gave into her kisses. He had expected the soft kisses that they had shared earlier in the day but in their place had come raw, passionate kisses. They only pulled away when it was necessary to breathe.

"What was that?" he asked her, searching her brown eyes.

"I just want to be close to you," she murmured.

She stood and pulled him with her, pushing up and against body as she poured herself into the kiss. Puck's hands left their place on her hips and let them graze the bare skin under her thin shirt. When she didn't stop him, he allowed his fingertips to graze the bottom of her breasts and she whimpered into his mouth. Her hands clung to his shoulders, her nails modestly manicured and painted a muted nude, buffed to shine like a doll's.

When both were completely out of breath, Rachel let her head fall back as far as it would go, trying to memorize the burn as they touched and the pace at which they were working.

Puck only panted for a moment or two, allowing his lips a temporary liberation from her skin before he reattached, this time to her neck, biting her along the line of her jaw and leaving a trail of wet kisses along her collarbone. Her chest heaved underneath his hands as she tried to drink in the air and some semblance of reality. She didn't know what she expected of their first time together but somehow, them seeking physical comfort over what they had recently experienced seemed perfect to her. There would time for romance and candlelight at another point.

Rachel scratched at the fabric of his t-shirt frantically, finally reaching down and sliding her hands under the thin, overwashed cotton, pulling it up as she moved her hands to his shoulder blades where she hoped she could seek comfort in their solidarity.

Goose bumps emerged all over his feverish skin as she exposed his back to the rest of the room and the tingles all over his body did nothing for his current condition. His resolve to maintain restraint was quickly washing away like an recovering alcoholic's state of sobriety in a room full of aromatic liquors, he moved down and kissed her stomach, right below her belly button as he slowly moved her shirt northward, over her head and down to the plush carpeted floor.

Kissing his way back up, Puck caressed every area he had never been privy to.

When he made his way back to her face, her chocolate brown eyes were hazy and her hair was mussed, strewn over her face and her shoulders. She gave him the smallest grin before he claimed her lips again, the very tips of his fingers starting to move beyond the waistband of her jeans.

Her hands were everywhere as he slipped his tongue into her mouth again. Chest, stomach, back, shoulders, scalp. Puck's skin was flushed and freezing at the same time, Rachel's proximity like a drug.

Rachel's eyes fluttered open as he eased out of the kiss so he could pull his shirt off.

The black lace of her bra scratched his now bare chest as they returned to the matter at hand, kissing each other feverishly and making small, anxious noises. His hand moved up to cup her still concealed breast while the other squeezed her waist gently, his hands shaking in restraint.

When she pushed her hips against his quickly and fiercely, shifting some to ease the dull ache in her pelvis because he hadn't dared venture there yet. He pushed her against the nearest wall, their hips meeting with a muted thud and groan from each of their throats.

Rachel reached down and busied herself with the fly of his jeans, eager to disrobe him further. Their closeness made the task at hand infinitely more difficult, but neither knew how to disconnect. How to let go of the closeness. It was just too much.

Puck ravished her neck and the swell of her breast as his hands fumbled for the clasp in the back. He had crafty hands that never faltered when it came to the eyehooks on bras. Pinch, release, slide. As simple as snapping.

She slid her shoulder blades around a little to allow him better access to the space between, both pushing her breast harder against his mouth and allowing the clasp to snap open. The fabric slackened its hold on her body immediately and she sighed, lightly running her nails over his scalp and he moaned lightly in response.

Standing from the slouch he had taken on to be nearer to her body, Puck stood to full height and slid the fabric off of her small soft shoulders, dancing his fingertips lightly over the expanse of skin.

She inhaled sharply when the air hit her exposed breasts. He skillfully drew circles around her left breast, and she felt her breathing start to become ragged as he got closer and closer to the peak. He finally traced around her nipple, and then she cried out loudly at what he did next. She was sure the other hotel guests would complain about the noises coming from her room but at this point she didn't give a damn.  
He took her nipple into his mouth, lightly grazing his teeth over it. At the same time, he tweaked the other one, roughly. An electric shock traveled down and she felt herself get even further aroused.

Puck was merciless in teasing her. Finally, Rachel let out a breathy little sigh when she managed to unhook his belt and slide his jeans down the rest of his body, and moved to his neck, kissing here, nibbling there while his hands continued to assault her body. Hastiness overcame the both of them when she raked her teeth over the artery in his neck and ran her fingertips dangerously along the waistband of his boxers, imagining what would soon transpire.

He wedged his knees between hers and took another half a step forward, hitting a place between her thighs that made the world go black for three seconds while he smirked at her and anything but casually caressed the sides of her breasts, enjoying the feel of her flushed skin against him.

She moaned outwardly when she felt his muscles ripple against her delicate skin of her stomach while he took a breath he had long deprived himself of. She flicked her eyes onto his and saw the mind-blowing clarity.

In a second her pants were off and her panties were floating toward the floor, pooling around her feet. She stepped out of them and kicked them aside while her hands fumbled with his boxers, pulling them down indelicately. Puck groaned when her hands brushed against him and made to say something when she straightened herself up and pressed her fingers to his lips, shaking her head gravely.

Words were Rachel's thing but he could understand her wanting to be quiet. Words were too messy right now and it was easier to act out their needs rather than speak of them. He knew it in the shake of her head. It was so much easier to read her body than just her lips. She needed him closer than he had ever been before. He needed her close in order to physically comprehend that she was safe.

He smiled at her warmly as she refused to remove her finger. Puck kissed it gently, slowly guiding it into his mouth while her face turned red, becoming aware of her nudity while he kept his eyes trained on hers and his hands on her breasts.

She slowly removed her finger and he sucked on it slowly as she pulled it from his mouth, from between his swollen lips, replacing the empty space in front of his smirk with her own kiss, hard and full of passion. He reached for his wallet that was in his discarded pants and pulled out a condom. Rachel rested her head against the wall, pushing her body harder against his, no longer able to wait for his touch to arrive.

For a moment he moved from her lips to look at her as she stood there, barely able to hold herself up. Something about the moment, however silent, was exceedingly more striking than his imagination. All it took was one pleading look from her eyes and Puck was lifting her leg, wrapping it around his waist and losing himself in the kiss as he entered her. The noise she made when her back collided with the wall again was almost a symphony to him.

"Oh God," she moaned as she rolled her hips and he continued to move inside her. Her throat began to close up and everything became hazy as she moved close to the edge, while Puck kissed and licked her neck and jaw line.

"Noah, please," she begged and the words she managed to get out only drove him wilder, causing him to push harder and deeper from one movement to the next.

"Fuck Rach," he swore he feels her clench around him and he can't hold back any longer. And then there it was, like a fucking freight train with no brakes. One more stroke and she's calling out his name, tightening around him, and he lets his head fall to her shoulder as she very easily takes him with her.

They rested against each other for a few moments, willing their heartbeats to regulate. He withdrew from her slowly and they both moaned at the loss.

"You okay?" he asks, and she nods as he gently unwrapped her leg from around his hip.

"I'm perfect," she replies quietly, kissing him gently.

Puck discarded the condom before tucking Rachel into the hotel bed to get some sleep. After the fitful night of sleep they both had the night prior and the day they had, they both need it.

Grabbing his phone, he saw that he had quite a few unread texts from all of their friends.

"Cooper's okay…" Puck told Rachel who breathed a sigh of relief. "They had to do emergency surgery to get the bullet out but it didn't hit anything major. A little physical therapy and he'll be good as new."

And then there was a text from Quinn.

_Adam still being held but Aubrey thinks the shooter is not coincidence. Keep an eye on R. _

He quickly shot her a message back.

_Everything's under control. Keep me updated_.

Puck got into bed beside Rachel, hoping that the light of day might bring some fucking clarity to this entire situation once and for all.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** I finally reveal the ACTUAL stalker in this chapter and if you're looking for the major hint that I dropped, it was in chapter 10 in Quinn's section. The last thing is a haymaker is a type of combat punch. If you need to see it, go to YouTube and watch Lucy Liu take one in Payback. Thank you so much for continuing to read, I love you all!

**Chapter Fourteen**

Rachel climbed through the layers of sleep, blinking slowly as the small streams of light that had snuck through the heavy-duty curtains of her hotel room made it impossible to stay asleep. It didn't take long to realize she was still wrapped up in Puck's embrace and memories of what had transpired the night before easily began to heat her skin. She curled into his embrace, and ran her fingertips over his chest, relishing in the peace of the early morning.

The stalker had targeted her and had even attempted to terrorize her fathers, which was unspeakably upsetting. Rachel had always been strong but this person picked at the seams of that strength and she didn't know how much more of that strength she had left. Of course her friends gave her strength and she loved Quinn and Kurt, but Noah was different. With everything that was going on in her career, having him with her was probably the only thing that was keeping her sane at this point.

Honestly, she just wanted all of this to end. The scary thing was that despite Aubrey and the other law enforcement involved, she had no idea when that would be or if it would even end with Adam. Puck stirred next to her and she watched as he slowly woke up.

"Morning," he rasped groggily, a small smile playing on his lips. "How ya feelin'?" he asked, snaking his arm tighter around her waist and pulling her closer if possible.

"I'm happy…about this." It went unsaid that she was still upset about what happened to Cooper the day before and didn't know what to think about Adam's arrest.

"Yeah. Me too," he replied as she kissed his chest. "We should probably head down to the precinct. See what they've got going on."

Rachel snuggled closer to him and sighed softly. "Not right now. I'm not ready to let this feeling go just yet."

Puck kissed her temple and Rachel knew that despite his penchant for not talking about his feelings, the action told her everything that she needed to know from the man in her bed.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

With a few hours of sleep under her belt, Aubrey prepped to get Adam Shipley back into interrogation. The kid had lawyered up fast yesterday afternoon and with the shooting outside of Rachel's building, it was safe to say that she had gotten a little distracted. But now, she was ready for round two and was to go in for the knock out. Detective Hayden had returned to Ohio to start work on a new pressing robbery spree in Lima and she was given back up in the form of NYPD Detective James Rice.

She washed her hands in the freezing water of the women's bathroom in the 34th Precinct. A toilet flushed behind her and Aubrey lifted her eyes to see the tired, red-rimmed eyes of Quinn Fabray.

"You doing okay?" Aubrey asked, drying her hands with a scratchy brown paper towel ignoring the green part of her personality that would complain about the apathy for the environment. The girl in front of her was emotionally spent and she deserved her full attention.

"Like you give a shit."

Well, that response certainly wasn't what she had expected from one of Rachel Berry's closest friends. "Excuse me?" Aubrey questioned

Aubrey had always had a temper and used it to her advantage. Even as a young child, she had wanted her way and had often gotten it from her parents. But as a cop, she had had to get that part of her under wraps and normally it wasn't difficult, but the hatred flowing from the blonde's green eyes made her blood boil.

"You did all this. You claim you're helping Rachel but somehow my boyfriend is behind bars and our good-natured, selfless driver spent last night in the surgical wing of Lenox Hill. Do you care to elaborate on how exactly you're helping the situation?"

Quinn took steps towards Aubrey and held herself to her full 5'6" height, even though the pretty detective still had two inches on her. Aubrey forced herself a deep calking breath even though her hands at her sides shook slightly with anger.

"Quinn, you're upset over what's been going on but there is no need to get confrontational. You don't want to be arrested for assaulting a cop. It doesn't look good…"

Quinn held up her hands innocently. "Just looking for answers…clues even. You know how that is."

Quinn backed off and went about washing her hands while Aubrey quietly seethed at the girl's comment. Aubrey stormed out after her, riled by the exchange and was extremely ready to nail her boyfriend with the crime and finally wipe the floor with snot nosed blonde.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Puck walked into the station with Rachel, the girl all but glued to his side. Mike and Matt leapt up to see how she was doing and she was unable to get away before Puck intercepted the warpath she was headed on in the direction of the interrogation room and pulled her into the corner to speak in private.

"What?" she snapped, crossing her arms.

"Look I'm not trying to come at you so just settle the fuck down. I need a favor."

"And what's that?"

"I need a gun permit." Aubrey's face screwed up in annoyance but before she could wave him off, he continued. "The guy had a gun Aubrey. A gun. What is it going to take to stop this guy? A haymaker isn't going to do me shit against a bullet."

"I don't exactly have carte blanche here, Puckerman. And she's got daggers for me," Aubrey replied, gesturing towards Quinn who was watching Aubrey like the hunter who just shot Bambi's mother.

"She's pissed about Adam. If the kid is guilty, she needs to get the fuck over it. But if he isn't, I want to be armed. I read up on it while Rachel showered. Law enforcement can push through the order. I figure you get someone here to do that and I'm going to go take a crash course on safety."

Puck had never really put that much thought in owning and operating a gun. Sure, when he watched Jason Statham kick fucking ass on the big screen, he kind of wished he could do what he did but the guy was an actor. But now, it kind of felt like his hand was being forced. Rachel hated violence of any kind but he had to do whatever was necessary in order to protect her. He hadn't talked to her about the decision but he needed to allow this as a part of his job.

No more was this about some pansy ass letters and creepy photographers. The guy had taken the first step to the point of no return and Puck was just making sure that he was equally prepared.

"Let me go talk to one of the guys. No promises."

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Kurt made Rachel a cup of Earl Grey tea and watched as Quinn paced back and forth, Adam's lawyer on the phone in the corner. Rachel had called him to come to the station and keep her company and he could understand why. The vibe in the precinct was incredibly uncomfortable.

"She's going to make herself sick…" Rachel commented taking the cup from her friend and letting the warmth seep into her hands.

"Do you think Adam did it?" Kurt asked her, turning his eyes to Rachel.

Rachel shrugged one shoulder. "There's no resounding answer. I mean, all the 'facts' seem to point that way but for him to be so tender to Quinn and so nice to me…was it all just to get closer to me? Because if so, bravo. He should look into getting an acting gig after he loses the orange jumpsuit."

Kurt cracked a smile at Rachel's momentary sardonic humor. "How does Puck feel?"

"Noah is keeping his views very quiet so I'm not sure what to deduce from that."

"And where is said beautiful male specimen?" Kurt questioned craning his neck to look around the precinct.

"He had to take care of a few things. Probably something to do with the apartment."

Kurt held a hand to his chest, a moment of silence for the ruined masterpiece that was his interior decorating on Rachel's apartment. "Speaking of the apartment…what are you going to do? Shame to lose that address."

Rachel knew that Kurt meant nothing by the comment. Sure, the address was a great one and the building had been cozy and safe, until now. Now, it was all ruined.

"He…took away my peace. My security. I can't live there anymore. I'll start looking for something else once this is all over."

"Well, my guest bedroom has your name on the door surrounded by big gold stars if you need it." Rachel hugged her friend but smacked his arm playfully when Kurt asked if she would be getting Puck's input on the her future place. "A future love nest perhaps?" he questioned, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Noah and I are nowhere near that point," Rachel answered after she acted scandalized. But she couldn't help the flush that flew up her cheeks remembering the night before and earlier that morning. Who would want to? Her lips curved into a small smile and Kurt quickly caught on.

"You two had sex!" Kurt cried out loudly and several pairs of eyes flew over to where they were seated. Others couldn't be bothered with them.

"Shhh," she hissed and ducked her head and stared at the table, avoiding any and all eyes. Her sex life was not meant to be spread amongst the members of the NYPD and possibly end up on Page Six of the Post.

"Oh come on, I didn't even say his name," her friend said in hushed tones. "But seriously, how was it?"

Rachel latched onto the fabric of Kurt's shirt and pulled him close. "There are no words," the actress informed him and Kurt smirked. For a girl of an extraordinary number of words, the sexual prowess of one Noah Puckerman had certainly rid her of that habit.

Rachel gasped and Kurt could see that the suspect in her case was now present in the room. She caught Adam's gaze as they brought him from the holding cell and led him to the interrogation room. The guy looked every bit a mess. Not so much from guilt as far as she could tell but with his clothes rumpled and a fresh bruise on his left cheek, he looked nothing like the proper-coifed agent that had been dating her friend.

"Kurt, something is telling me that he didn't do this," Rachel said softly.

Kurt was about to ask her if it was her psychic power tapping in but the look on her face told him that now was not the time. The look on her face was worth much more than teasing her about some sophomore year admission in the choir room. The source of Rachel's expression? Quinn's begging of the uniformed cop for just a minute with Adam.

Heartbreaking was the one word that he thought described the sight. Adam leaned his forehead against Quinn's as his arms were still pinned behind his back in handcuffs. Neither could hear the words that he was saying but the tears on her friend's cheeks yielded her to believe furthermore in his innocence.

& ! & ! &! & ! &

Adam was uncuffed and ordered to sit in on the steel grade factory chair. His lawyer, Michael Houston III, took a seat next to him in a well-tailored suit for the second time in two days. Aubrey walked in, another guy with her. He didn't recognize him as the other detective who had driven him back in the unmarked car after his wonderful silver accessories had been added to his wrists.

"Substitute?" Adam asked, wanting an introduction without being overtly demanding.

"Detective Hayden had to return to Ohio. This is Detective Rice with the NYPD. After all, you did most of this shit on his turf," Aubrey sassed. Truly, after dealing with his girlfriend she was cranky and wanted this shit done with for good. She hated New York and wanted to get back to Los Angeles, where the sun was shiny above the layer of smog and the criminals were more her breed.

"Language, detective," Houston said sarcastically.

"Bite me," Aubrey retorted, leaning on the table and looking dead straight into Adam's eyes. "Tell me how you did it. Got close to the blonde, played just the tip for shits and giggles, all to terrorize to terrorize some new movie star? Why? She blow you off? She make more money than you and that's just unacceptable?"

"Leave Quinn out of this," Adam answered tiredly. He had had a hell of a night in the lovely cell of the 34th Precinct. A few bums, a guy in the drunk tank, and a guy that didn't like the way Adam had been looking at him filled his quota of crazies for the next year.

"Sorry _pal_…Quinn is in this. You ripped her friend's mattress to shreds and covered the walls in pig's blood. Probably had that shooter set up before you even got nailed. What drove you to that point?"

"Like I already told you, _detective_, I didn't do any of that. I don't know what you think you have on me and I certainly don't know anything about a shooter."

"Yes, Detective Isaacs, please elaborate what's keeping my client in your fine establishment," Houston added, clearly bored.

"I'm sick of your shit," Aubrey muttered and pulled the Lima crime scene folder from Rice's hands. She immediately began flipping the photos onto the table, followed by photos Rachel's apartment. Adam automatically cringed at the sight of the destruction.

"Oh, I'm sorry maestro. Uncomfortable seeing your own handiwork?"

Adam didn't respond so grabbing the clear shot of the footprint, she jabbed her pointer finger at it.

"Know what this is genius? Footprints. Size 10." She flung the lab report of the matched Ferragamo loafer to said print as well as the shoe's limited release information. "Out of all 500 pairs sold, your name is the only one on that list that had that much access to Rachel."

Adam's jaw hung open as he continued to stare at the photos and flip through the lab report.

"I'm one jury panel away from a guilty verdict unless you want me to get the ADA down here for a plea deal."

"Shit…" Adam muttered

"Finally scared that we caught onto your brother?"

"No, because you've got the wrong guy."

His lawyer sat forward and pointed at the lab report and ordered Adam to start explaining. "Adam, it's in your best interest to start talking and fast."

Adam shook his head firmly. He had another plan as he needed confirmation from the only other person who could give it.

"I need Rachel in here. She needs to know what's going on."

Aubrey looked to her NYPD partner in what had felt like the knockout round until this point. Rice shrugged his indifference but offered one stipulation.

"I have no issue with the girl being in here as long as he's cuffed."

Adam quickly offered up his wrists to the metal shackles as Aubrey went to retrieve the center of the case. Timidly, Rachel entered the interrogation room.

"Not exactly Law & Order huh Rach?" he questioned, showing off his handcuffs that were tight around his wrists.

Rachel offered a tight smile and wrapped her arms around her torso, obviously uncomfortable.

"Start talking," Aubrey said impatiently.

"Rachel…all this….it's Eric."

Rachel gasped, covering her mouth with both hands and it was clear that tears were swimming in her eyes at the mention of that name. Personally, Aubrey felt as if they had just skipped three chapters.

"Eric who?" Rice questioned asking the question on the other three minds in the room.

"Eric Christiansen, my first manager before Quinn. He was assigned to me by the studio when I got Batman but we had some…issues and we terminated the working relationship."

Adam shook his head sadly as he didn't want to air the girl's dirty laundry but it was necessary. "Rachel, please forgive me but you have to tell them what happened, why he would be so hell bent on all this."

A tear fell down Rachel's cheek and she wiped it away roughly. "Eric got handsy in my trailer about three weeks into shooting. He cornered me…and despite me saying no," Rachel said, voice cracking on the last word, "If Chace hadn't been coming to run lines, things could have been a lot worse."

"And why do you think he's the guy?"

"When I left London, I came to see him. He didn't outright mention that he was going to hurt himself but he sounded bad on the phone."

"You two are friends?" Aubrey asked quizzically.

"We haven't really stayed in touch since he was fired. We e-mailed occasionally, texted. Phi Delta Theta brothers at Texas A&M, he got me the interview with the agency since he graduated earlier than I did. We were friends up until…Let's just say that his life kind of went to shit after that. He went to rehab but he's back on something and he's definitely drinking."

"And the shoes?"

"Who do you think introduced me to labels? I'm from Kentucky. It's not exactly the capital for Gucci production."

Aubrey groaned and stalked to the corner of the small interrogation room. No one said anything as the lead detective on the case wrestled with this new information.

"Rice, put out an APB on Eric Christiansen. Mr. Houston, you're client is free to go pending cooperation in the aiding of said APB. Rachel, get Puckerman back here. He needs to be briefed on what's going on and you need to get somewhere safe."

"The hotel?"

"No longer on my list of safe," Aubrey muttered and left the interrogation room.


	15. Chapter 15

I so apologize for the lack of updates on this story but the inspiration has seriously been lacking for this chapter. I finally forced myself to sit down and outline, and the words came out soon after. This definitely could have been edited more but I wanted to get it posted tonight, so if there are any mistakes, I'm sorry.

We're looking at like two or three more chapters after this one. Thanks for your continued support, input and reviews!

**A/N:** Eric is intended to look like Tom Everett Scott. The song that Puck calms Rachel down with is "Changed By You" by Between the Trees.

**Chapter Fifteen**

_**Last September, Chicago **_

"_Great job on the scene Rachel!" one of the stagehands complimented as she walked back to her trailer on the set of the latest Batman installment. They were three weeks into shooting and although she was new to the kind of attention she had on her, it was invigorating. _

_Having wanted a fresh face for the lead of the fourth installment, they had scoured for new talent. When Chris Nolan's wife took in her performance of Hairspray, they had brought her in for an audition and less than 48 hours later, she was offered the role. Now she was playing Beckett Warner, orphaned girl who was basically an indentured slave paying off her debt as a jazz singer in a seedy nightclub. And more than that, she was to be the new source of Bruce Wayne's redemption. A big role that she had more than happily sunk her teeth into. _

_Although in high school she had only ever really focused on Broadway, she did not hate the new occupation of Hollywood actress. Kurt was helping her decorate her new apartment in New York with the money she had received upfront for the movie and was flying out to Chicago when he could to offer moral support and fashion guidance. _

_Checking her phone, she saw she had a voicemail from him and listened as she walked the final steps to her trailer. Rachel knew that once she got inside, she would have about five minutes to herself before Chace came to run lines. They were shooting their first meeting later and she was still concerned that she wasn't putting the correct amount of emotion into her lines. _

"_Diva B, it's Kurt. I was trying to catch you when you were free to have a quick catch up. I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever. Your new couch came in and it is too die for. Although I still hold a grudge over my Moroccan themed layout being nixed, I think you made the right decision with the latest plans. All right, well call me when you are not in such high demand. Bye love." _

_The message ended and Rachel erased it, stepping into her trailer. She didn't see the figure sitting on the one end of the couch and nearly jumped out of her skin when she did. _

"_God, Eric, I was not expecting to see you here," Rachel said, clutching her chest, where her heart hammered from the surprise of his presence. _

_Eric Christiansen was her manager, assigned to her by the studio upon them scooping her up for the movie. They had been shocked by her lack of representation and had assured her that they would assign her someone. Enter Eric. He was 26, dark wavy hair and blue eyes and as cocky as them came. Eric even beat a certain mohawked boy from her high school when it came to believing that they were number wah. _

"_Saw you on the monitors while you were shooting that scene. You looked great," he complimented standing up and moving closer to where she stood. _

"_Thank you," she replied, not sure why his presence was making her so uncomfortable. _

"_Honestly, I am so glad that the studio hooked the two of us up. I foresee this being a very beneficial relationship." _

_Rachel had to stop herself from quirking an eyebrow and instead just nodded at his viewpoint. Sure, she was being paid quite nicely for this role and Eric would be taking a cut of her profit as her manager, but she didn't understand what he was referring to. Paying no mind, she went to the small fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. _

"_I made a dinner reservation with Darren Arofonsky for tomorrow night. He wants to put you in his next film after he saw dailies."_

"_How did he view dailies? Those are not supposed to leave the lot," Rachel questioned, after swallowing the water. _

"_I've got connections. Just figured we wanted to get a jump on getting you onto another movie set before the end of the year." _

_Now she was concerned. They had basically just started shooting Batman and the schedule had her shooting in Chicago for two more weeks before going to London for the next several months to finish the rest of the scenes from the film. _

"_How is that possible? I'm scheduled to be on set through the beginning of January." _

"_Easy. We'll ask for more money to finish Batman or else we walk." Eric answered as if this was a done deal with no option for deviation. _

"_Excuse me? Where in the hell did that sound like something I was interested in doing? I am committed to this film. Believe it or not, but I am thankful for this break into the industry."_

"_Sweetheart, I'm your manager. Now let me manage," he said, stepping closer to her and running his hands up her bare arms. _

"_Don't call me sweetheart," Rachel responded, brown eyes blazing. She was beyond pissed about Eric making career decisions for her without consulting her and she was approximately 30 seconds from getting on the phone with the studio. _

_She never saw it coming. His hand was lightning quick as it slapped her across the face. __Her head snapped in the direction of his hand, almost as it was following it. Her hair covered her face, as she stood stunned. It was a miracle that she hadn't fallen down at the force of the blow, but slowly she turned to look at the man who had gone from being her overly cocky manager to someone who was scaring her. He clucked his tongue and told her to watch her mouth. Rachel wanted to spit on him but she was sure that would only make the situation worse, no matter have much satisfaction it would give her. _

_Eric pulled her against him, wrapping one arm around her torso to keep her in place and allowing his other hand to wander over her ass before it traveled up her back and into her hair. He yanked hard, pulling her head back so that she was looking up at him. _

"_Let's get this shit understood okay. I want, I take. Doesn't matter who or what." _

"_You're crazy," she bit out and he only pulled her hair harder. Thankfully it was all her own – by now extensions would have been ripped painfully from her scalp. _

_Rather than allow her to continue talking, Eric took her mouth in a bruising kiss and when Rachel just allowed him to assault her mouth with no participation from him, he got even angrier. He threw her against the wall of the trailer, visibly shaking the structure. _

_But before he could violate her more, the door to her trailer opened and Chace walked in. One glance surveying the situation – Eric breathing heavily, crazy-eyed and Rachel, a mixed of frightened and pissed – told him all that he needed to know. Born and bred in Texas, there was one way to treat women and that had clearly been violated in Rachel's trailer. Chace quickly yanked Eric from his place and all but threw him out the trailer door. _

"_Call security," he ordered the member of the crew that he pointed at. _

_Security was there in minutes and Chace demanded that he be escorted off the property and his clearance be revoked. _

"_Fuck you Crawford, this won't be the last time that you or that little bitch sees me," Eric shouted as they started to pull him away. "I all but made Adam what he is. He owes me." Assured that Eric was gone, Chace went back into the trailer where Rachel had not moved from her spot. "Rach, you okay?" he asked gently_

"_I'll be fine," she whispered, "Just give me a minute."_

_Sure enough, the time he gave her allowed her to take a few deep-cleansing breaths and soon she turned to him, ready to work as if nothing had just happened. Rachel picked up her script and took a few steps, but quickly got dizzy from the rush of emotions that she had just suffered. Chace caught her and got her to take a seat on the couch. _

"_Rachel, whoa, let's not dive headfirst into the shallow end. Do you need to get checked out? Did he hurt you?"_

"_I'm sure I'll have a bruise or two tomorrow but that's nothing that stage makeup can't fix. I'm just shaken up, I promise." Rachel reassured. She gave him a hug and whispered thank you for helping her. _

"_Okay," he replied, rubbing the back of his nervously. "Listen, I don't think this is the best time to bring this up but with that asshole gone, you're without representation. What are you going to do?"_

"_No idea," she answered honestly. _

& ! & ! &! & ! &

A year later and it finally seemed as if Eric was fulfilling his promises. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Rachel knew that Eric could have been the culprit. But with all the factors, it had seemed like it was more of an obsessed fan rather than someone who been forcibly removed from her life the year prior.

But now, as she sat in the captain's office and looked over all the evidence and remembered everything that had occurred, it all fit like pieces of a puzzle. Rachel had ruined his life by having him removed as her manager. It had blackballed him in the movie industry as rumors as to what had happened to cause his dismissal made him an untouchable, too volatile to hire.

In a sense, of course he would want to terrorize her and ruin her life just as she had done to him.

"Sugar," Kurt said softly and touched her back, "You haven't said very much since they put out the APB. Please talk to me."

"I feel like I'm out of words," she offered and when she saw how shocked he was at this statement, she smiled for a second. "Honestly though, there's nothing more to say. I'm scared. I know everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off to keep me safe but I have no idea what will happen."

"You're going to be fine," Kurt reassured quickly.

"Am I?" Rachel countered looking him dead in the eye. Before Kurt could stutter out another hopefully reassuring answer, the duo heard Puck loudly demand to know where Rachel was.

Kurt got up and poked his head out the door. "She's in here, stud," Kurt instructed and deftly slipped out as Puck entered the small office and gathered Rachel into his embrace.

Rachel gladly welcomed the feel of his arms around her. For the moment, she felt absolutely safe. She leaned her forehead against his chest, splaying her hands on the broad measure of his chest and breathing in the subtle scent of his cologne. In total, it was enough to keep the fear at bay.

"They told me to get back here right away and … I thought something happened. Drove me fucking nuts tryin' to get a cab to go from Brooklyn back here without charging an arm and a leg."

"What were you doing in Brooklyn?" she asked leaning back to look at him. She knew that he had to run errands but he hadn't told her what and now hearing that he had been in a different borough altogether made extremely curious.

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you but I have a feeling that you're going to hate this."

He moved her hands down to his waist where he placed one of her tiny hands on the holster of his newly licensed gun. Rachel's eyes bugged at the sight of the weapon and he could see the words bubbling up, most likely anger. But instead of anger, she started to cry and it threw him for a loop.

"Noah Puckerman, you know how much I despise violence but a gun? A gun?" Rachel cried as tears ran down her cheeks, "What are we becoming?"

"I need to keep you safe," he replied, "It's not like I went and fucking bought it for shits and giggles." He pulled her back to his chest and let her cry, wetting the front of his t-shirt as he rubbed her back. For the situation she was in, the tears were warranted. Puck just wished that she didn't have to cry anymore and that he could see her smile more.

Leaning down so his mouth was level with her ear, he sang softly to her. "Please wait while I slowly untie my tongue tonight. I pray by some feeble my words would tell you what my heart has to say 'cause you've always been right beside me for so many days. How could I be without you now?"

It took a few minutes of him singing to get the tears to stop altogether but it worked.

"Aubrey…Aubrey said the Astoria is no longer safe which I guess means other hotels are out as well. Where should I go?"

One would think on an island of nearly 34 square feet and over 8 million people, there would be a safe place that they could stash Rachel away for a little while. A day or two tops. What they needed was someone exactly like Puck but who Eric had not yet seen in Rachel's life.

"Fuck, I've got an idea."

& ! & ! &! & ! &

It took an unmarked police car and trip to the Financial District but soon Puck, Rutherford and Rachel were knocking on Apartment 16F.

"Well look who decides to fucking call me after four months of not speaking," Santana Lopez greets as she opens the door to her apartment. "Of course it's when you need something Puckerman."

Not waiting for Santana to invite them inside, he led Rachel inside and nudging Santana out of the way, he locked the apartment up.

"You have a beautiful home Santana," Rachel complimented, taking in the view of the city below them and the tasteful decorating that the Latina had imposed upon her living space.

"Yeah yeah yeah, not to kill the pleasantry buzz, what the fuck is going on? You call me and tell me you're coming over and without another word, you show up here with Berry and Rutherford. Obviously this is not a booty call. For either of you," Santana says looking from Puck to Matt.

Puck has to admit that he has missed Santana's humor but he launches into the reason they are asking for her help before the Latina gets bored and orders them to leave.

"Listen San, I would much rather keep you out of this but we need strength in numbers at this point. And because you've kicked me in the balls enough times to know that you hit first, ask questions later, I knew we could use you."

Santana raised an eyebrow at Puck's introduction before getting off the couch and walking to her wet bar. She took a crystal bottle that held amber liquor and pour two glasses neat. The ex-cheerleader handed one to Rachel, clinked her glass against the actress' before downing the liquid. Rachel daintily sipped hers, allowing the liquor to warm her from inside out.

"I figured whatever you have to tell me is going to demand liquor so I saved myself a step."

"Rachel's being stalked and it's not some I want to sex you up, you're so hot kind of stalker," Matt explained, "Shit's serious. They've got an APB out for this guy and the lead detective has said no more hotels. We figure the guy knows where Kurt and Quinn live so we needed a place."

"I'm touched you've thought of me," Santana replied sarcastically. "I'm down with Berry crashing here."

"Santana, please think this through," Rachel says, "I don't want to put you in any unnecessary danger."

"Pffft," Satana says picking at her split ends, "Please. I'm capable of babysitting you Berry. Plus, this means I get to miss a few days of work. If anything, this news has just improved my day ten fold."

Puck felt a little surge of hope grow at having Santana Lopez on their team. He just wondered how long that feeling would last.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Two more chapters after this one. You get another flashback but this time it's the meeting between Eric and Adam. We also get some background information on Puck's past. If you don't recall, check the end of chapter 4.

**Chapter 16**

After Puck and Matt left Rachel in Santana's apartment, any ease that Rachel felt about being in the girl's apartment left with them. Santana flopped onto the couch where Rachel sat ramrod, uncomfortable to be fraternizing with her enemy from high school.

"So what's the deal with you and Puck?" the Latina asked, examining the ends on a lock of her raven colored hair.

"How do you mean?" Rachel asked, wary of the question that was being asked. "Noah is in charge of my security team," she answered playing dumb. Santana rolling her eyes clearly revealed that that was not the response she was looking for.

"You know full well that I want to know the dirty. Seeing as how he hasn't called me in fucking months to shake the sheets after he broke up his ex, I assumed he was getting it elsewhere." Truth be told, hearing Santana tell her that she and Puck had still remained intimate after high school turned her stomach a bit. And although she had no preconceived notions about his sex life, hearing it was still unsettling. "He wouldn't look at you the way he does unless you two have fucked silly."

She had no control as the blush ran up her neck and into her cheeks, clearly giving away the fact that hers and Noah's relationship had turned into a sexual one.

"If you blushing tells me anything, it's that you two did the nasty. And about fucking time, it was exhausting to watch you dance around each other in high school for the entirety of our senior year."

Regaining her vocal capabilities, Rachel defended herself. "I will only say that it was not _fucking_," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper although they were the only ones in the apartment, "We made love."

Santana gave off a full belly laugh, clutching her stomach and everything.

"Right puta and I'm the reigning Queen of England. Puck fucks. You got yours, I'm sure." Her blush resumed and Santana grinned. "I love being right."

Santana flipped on the TV and didn't spend more than five seconds on a particular channel if she didn't like what was currently playing. She finally settled on some celebrity rehab show before turning her focus back onto Rachel, who apparently was like a new shiny toy that Santana could not get enough of.

"Are you going to tell me about this stalker shit? You might as well if I'm risking my safety as much as you claim."

"It's a long story," Rachel said folding one of her legs under her.

"Hold that thought," Santana said and the girl disappeared for a minute into the kitchen that was just off the living room. She emerged a minute later her arms full with a bottle of tequila, two shot glasses, a lime and a saltshaker. "Appropriate story telling accessories," the Latina explained with a wicked grin.

_

* * *

Adam Shipley scrubbed his face with his hands as he sipped his Jameson neat in the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis in New York. He had taken a red eye from London back to the city when Eric had called him in a panic, stating that he absolutely needed to see him. The guy had been a fraternity brother and had aided him in getting the interview with the agency two years prior, so in a sense Adam still felt indebted to the guy. And with the troubles that he incurred, he figured a little conversation might put the guy back on track. _

_Now it was 3 pm and the guy still had not shown to meet up with him as he had requested on the phone. He had to be back in time for the Paris premiere just as he had promised Chace and he wasn't about to back out on his promises. _

"_10 more minutes then I'm outta here," he muttered placing the glass back on the bar top. _

_As if the guy had miraculously heard his whispered threat to leave, Eric appeared and slid into the seat next to him. He was dressed to the nines, but it greatly contrasted with how he appeared. He looked haggard. Dark smudges under his eyes, desperately needing a haircut and a shave. If the guy hadn't smiled at him while taking a seat, Adam wasn't sure that he would recognize him. _

"_What can I get you?" the bartender asked the new arrival and quickly poured Eric some Maker's Mark on the rocks. _

_Leaning towards his former co-worker and part-time friend, Adam asked him what was going on._

"_I'm a mess clearly." _

"_You look fine," Adam said, not completely sure if either of them believed that statement. _

"_I just needed to see you. I'm not doing so well. I've been fucking up so bad and every time I try to fix it, I think about everything I've lost and suddenly I'm fucking things up even more."_

"_How so?" Adam asking. He knew that the guy had not been able to get a job in the entertainment industry since the situation on the Warner Brothers lot nearly a year ago. There was no need to mention Rachel though. Adam was sure that would only made it worse._

"_I tried rehab after I got kicked off the lot. It didn't stick and I'm nearly 30 grand in the hole."_

"_Whoa," Adam said, taking a drink of his whiskey at that monetary figure. It was admirable that he was trying to get help but it clearly had not stuck seeing as how he had a glass of bourbon in front of him. "So what do you need? Money?"_

"_I can't take your money. I'm more in need of a job so I can stop messing up so bad," Eric said draining his glass. _

"_A job?" Adam repeated, not sure that he had heard him correctly. _

_Eric bobbed his head and pushed his glass towards the bartender indicating that he wanted a refill. _

"_Seriously bro, I'll do anything. I'll start small and prove everyone that I'm better. Just not too small," he joked. _

"_Listen, you're my friend but I'm not sure that I can help you. And I think you need to prove to me that you're better first and foremost before I can take such a huge gamble," the agent said _

"_What makes you think that I'm not better?" Eric questioned taking a sip of his newly refreshed drink. Adam pointed at his glass and Eric slammed it down angrily. Adam didn't react because the guy was acting a tad petulant and that was irritating. "What the fuck do you want from me? I don't have a job, I'm behind on my rent, I haven't done drugs but the alcohol is something I can't let go of."_

_Adam finished his own drink and laid a couple of bills out on the bar, knowing full well that it covered both of their drinks and a generous tip for the bartender. He was done attending this pity party and was due back to support his client in Europe._

"_Truthfully, I can't help you. Until you can start living a sober lifestyle, you're still a risk that a lot of agencies and studios are not going to be willing to take," Adam told him, sliding off the stool and putting on his suit jacket that had been discarded to the back of the chair upon arrival._

"_You're making a big mistake."_

_Adam fixed is collar and stared at Eric, who had seemingly turned into a stranger in a matter of minutes. _

"_That better not be a threat." Fuck pleasantries, Adam thought. No one threatened him when he had done nothing wrong. _

_Eric didn't say anything else, slid out of his own chair and hurried out of the bar without a response. Adam shook his head and took out his phone. Scrolling to Eric's information, he decidedly erased the guy from all aspects of his life. _

* * *

Rachel giggled loudly and steadied her hand as she held another shot of tequila. Licking the salt of her hand, she downed the liquor in the shot glass and sucked insistently on the lime that Santana handed her. The Latina was also falling into a fit of liquor-induced giggles.

A knock on the door broke them both from their hysterics and they eyed the door curiously. Puck had told the both of them that he would call before arriving and that they shouldn't open up the door for anyone else.

"Who is it?" Santana called out in a high-pitched voice before dropping her face into a throw pillow and laughing again.

"Diva B and Extrema Latina, open the door, my arms are full," Kurt yelled through the door and Santana got up off the floor and went to the door. "Don't worry, I wore a disguise." Peering through the peephole, she doubled over in laughter and unlocked the door letting the stylist in.

Rachel was definitely more buzzed than Santana and could not control the giggles that erupted at seeing Kurt's disguise. The wig, sunglasses and facial hair combination automatically reminded her of The Dude from _The Big Lebowski_. And because it was Kurt, it was that much more humorous.

"What homeless person did you mug for that get up Hummel?" Santana asked between laughter as she locked up her apartment.

Kurt sneered at Santana's teasing and began to gingerly place the garment bags that he had been carrying onto an armchair. It was only after the clothes were safe and sound that he removed his disguise and Rachel was able to talk to him seriously.

"What's all this?" she asked referring to the clothing.

"Kimmel's in a few days darling. We need to pick an outfit so I brought Lanvin, Carolina Herrera and Zac Posen. But seeing your current state I'm not so sure that we will be getting any fittings done right now."

As if she hadn't heard a word that he had said, Rachel poured some Cuervo into the shot glass and offered it up to her friend

"Kurtie, have a drink!" she said excitedly and the stylist wrinkled his nose at the drunken nickname that she had bestowed upon him before he accepted the shot glass and knocked back the liquor.

"If you can't beat them, join them," he said taking the bottle and pouring another shot. "What were you two hussies talking about before I got here?"

"Eric and his fucking crazy obsession with ruining Berry's life," Santana said, cutting more lime wedges.

"I don't want to talk about him any more," Rachel said, shaking her head vehemently. "I want to talk about Annie."

Kurt looked confused at the name but the name clearly resonated with Santana and she coughed as she attempted to swallow the shot she had just consumed. Clearly, Santana knew exactly who Annie was.

"Who are we talking about? I don't know an Annie," Kurt said, clearly feeling left out of the conversation.

"Annie is Noah's ex," Rachel said dramatically,

"Oh wow, how did you find this out?" Kurt asks, suddenly very invested in the topic.

"Told me when we were fighting and _apparently_," she stresses drunkenly, " She's the first and only person to keep him monogamous."

"She was fucking boring as shit," Santana interrupts after she no longer

"Oh, the plot thickens," the stylist said, turning his focus to the Latina. "You know her, do tell."

"Not much to tell. She's Daddy's little princess, she brought her Aston Martin to the shop to fix her bumper and that's how they met."

Santana got up and went into the kitchen, leaving Kurt and Rachel hanging on the topic.

"Santana, you cannot just start telling me about Noah's ex and then walk away!" Rachel nearly screeched.

"Chill out Rachel," Santana snapped returning with a bottle of wine seeing as how the tequila was getting low. She flopped onto the couch and looked down at Rachel and Kurt who were waiting for her to continue. "What do you want to know? Because honestly, it nauseates me to talk about her so let's make it fast."

Kurt clapped his hands giddily as the rare Q&A session. "Okay, how long did they date for and why did they break up? Oh and why was she boring?"

Santana scowled as the rapid-fire questions that the stylist had aimed about Noah Puckerman's former girlfriend. She was probably going to get her ass kicked by Puck when he finds out that they were discussing his former relationship in front of his…whatever Rachel was.

"She wasn't boring, I guess. I just hated her guts. She started out materialistic but as she and Puck got closer, she kind of lost that quality and adapted to how he lived which really bothered her dad. They dated for like a year and half, I guess."

The expiration date of their relationship definitely surprised Rachel. Although she knew that it had to have been serious enough for him to remain faithful to her, a year and a half was a big deal.

"And they broke up because?" Kurt asked again and Rachel too wanted to know this information.

"She said no," Santana answered eyeing Rachel carefully, knowing that this information was going to sting, tequila in her bloodstream or not.

"He proposed?" Rachel asked quietly. She tried to imagine him proposing. It almost didn't seem like him to do so. Rachel knew that his father leaving his mother behind had truly skewed his perspective on the institution. Apparently, this woman had meant enough to him to change his mind.

"Yeah, he did. But she said no. Kind of tore him up." Rachel nodded and Santana felt badly for even giving into their discussion of the topic. "Berry, listen, he's different with you. As far as I'm concerned, Annie never really held a candle to you and somewhere deep down I think he knew that."

Her phone came to life as it buzzed on the coffee table, the name NOAH lighting up on the screen. Kurt saw her hesitation to pick up and answered the phone to help his friend.

"Puckerman, it's Hummel. She's in the bathroom. I wore a disguise. You're not my keeper and I was very sneaky. Fine, whatever. You're on your way? Okay I'll let her know."

If Rachel hadn't been upset at the conversation of Noah's almost engagement, she might have smiled at the one side of the conversation that she was hearing. Instead, she contemplated how the latest news about the man that had earned his way into her heart and into her bed changed what they had.

"Santana, could I lay down for a bit? Mr. Cuervo seems to have upset my stomach a little bit."

Santana didn't comment about the real reason that she believed that Rachel was looking to lay down and just pointed her to the spare bedroom. When the actress had disappeared from sight, Santana poured both her and Kurt a large glass of wine.

"Drink up because I think we're going to get our asses handed to us when Puck gets here."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N**: One more after this! I'm a little sad to see this story come to an end but I am excited to keep working on **Forever and Almost Always** and my other story ideas. Thanks for reading!

**Chapter Seventeen**

"Have a beer," Santana offered as Puck walked into her apartment accompanied by Quinn and Adam.

Puck eyed the beverage suspiciously as he took it from the Latina's hands.

"What's going on?" he asked looking from Santana to Kurt and back again. "Where's Rachel?"

"She's laying down. She had a little too much tequila."

Puck stared at Kurt and watched the stylist squirmed under his gaze. "There's something else. What are you not telling me?" Kurt blanched and Puck just waited because the stylist was a minute away from spilling his guts.

"Hummel, don't…" Santana warned.

Kurt drained the wine that he had left in his glass before telling Puck that they had been talking about Annie and Rachel got really quiet after the conversation.

"San, seriously? You couldn't keep your fucking mouth shut?" Puck questioned angrily and went to the guest bedroom where he assumed Rachel was hiding out.

He found the diminutive brunette curled up on the guest bed, her face pinched in anguish. Puck took a seat on the mattress, wincing as it dipped under his weight. He could tell that she was not in a deep sleep and the movement would most likely wake her.

Puck was right. Her brown eyes opened and they looked…empty.

"Hi," he greeted, "So I was informed that…"

"Tell me about Annie," she interrupted

"No."

"Noah, I'm asking for your side. I heard what Santana had to say but I'm asking to hear you."

"This isn't meant to be rude but it's none of your business."

Rachel sat up and scoffed. "Well, guess what? It was. How are we supposed to work if you won't be honest with me?" Puck remained silent and it outright bothered her. "Let's try another one. What are we doing? Where is this," she said, pointing to him and then herself, "going?"

Puck faltered to give her an answer. It was like the words couldn't come out.

"Unbelievable," she muttered and got off the bed on the opposite side, far away from him. "I thought you never wanted to get married and now, to hear that you were almost engaged changes everything. I thought I knew about you and before my feelings continue to develop for you, I need to know what to expect."

Puck rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, exasperated.

"Shit, Rachel, what do you want me to say?"

"I think you've said quite enough. Please leave me alone."

He took a couple steps towards her and she backed up. "Rachel," he said pleadingly

"I mean it Noah. Get the fuck out."

Quinn came into the guest room, followed by Adam.

"Leave her alone Puck," Quinn said tersely, her green eyes blazing. "We need to have a discussion in the living room." Quinn followed him out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. "We need to discuss Kimmel. The studio obviously wants her to do it but I'm not so sure."

Puck took a seat in the armchair and reclaimed his beer from earlier.

"Both Chace and Zachary did their rounds on late night. It's important for Rachel to do hers as well," Adam added.

"Yo, you're not really in on this decision bro," Puck added from his spot.

"Puck, seriously?" Quinn asked irritated. "He's just trying to help."

The bodyguard rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

Kurt sat primly next to Santana, who seemed to realize than other than being the perfect hideout for the time being, didn't really have a say in the matter but was enjoying the fireworks.

"If we have enough security, do you think it's safe?" the stylist asked

"I have no idea," Puck responded taking a pull from his beer bottle. "I know Aubrey will say that it is a dumb fucking idea. But I know that Rachel will want to do what's best for her career."

"So your professional opinion is?" Quinn asked

"If we can come up with a decent plan, then I guess I'm okay with it."

"Okay, then I will confirm with Kimmel's people. We'll sit down and come up with a plan at a later point."

Puck wanted to give Quinn a sarcastic thumbs-up but he figured it might get him a five inch heel up his ass. Instead, he silenced himself with the last amount of beer in his bottle. Adam took a seat next him, stared at him but didn't say anything.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"If there is anything I've learned from being arrested and being thrown into lock up, it's that you've gotta appreciate what you've got. If you're into Rachel as much as you appear to be and if she makes you happy, don't throw it away."

"I need another beer," Puck muttered and helped himself to a walk into Santana's kitchen.

* * *

Two days later, Puck tried to talk to Rachel and was prevented by Quinn and Kurt.

"She needs time to think," Kurt told him and patted him on the bicep encouragingly.

The day before Kimmel, he got her a decaf soy latte and wrote a message on the cup. Knowing she wouldn't accept it from him, he handed it to Santana for delivery. The Latina called a few minutes later with a report.

"She took a sip, saw the note and ditched it. Sorry bro, looks like you're still in the doghouse."

Puck hung up on Santana and resisted throwing his phone. This fighting between them needed to end. He wanted her safe. He wanted her happy. He just wasn't sure how the fuck he could make that happen.

* * *

Tension rolled off Rachel in waves as Kurt moved a wave of her brown hair so that it framed her face more evenly. Rachel, Kurt and Quinn were sitting in the green room at Jimmy Kimmel Live waiting for Rachel to go out and be interviewed. She had chosen wine colored Lanvin sateen draped cap sleeve dress that highlighted her tiny waist but she felt anything but like the beautiful star of the new Batman film. Instead, she just felt pissed off and moody.

The conversation, or lack thereof, that she had had with Noah earlier in the week on what their relationship meant had made her feel absolutely blasé. And the fact that she had to put on a façade in a few minutes to promote the film and be this career person did not make her feel any better.

There was a knock on the door and Matt stuck his head in.

"You ready to go?" he asked

Rachel got out of the hair and makeup chair, leaning over to check her teeth in the mirror.

"Ready as I can be," she said and followed Matt out the door, waving to her manager and stylist. Quinn and Kurt would watch the telecast on televisions that were in her dressing room. As she followed Matt down the narrow hallway, someone grabbed Rachel by her elbow and yanked her backwards. She stumbled in her heels and all but fell into Puck's broad chest.

"What the hell is your problem?" she asked angrily and pushed off him, moving to keep walking. Puck waved Matt and Mike on and his friends did as requested.

"Drop the attitude Rachel, we're trying to keep you safe."

Rachel blew out an annoying breath and kept walking only to have Puck speed up and cut off her path.

"I have to get out there."

"God, could you…shit, just give me a minute. You've spent the entire week being pissed off at me and you have not even given me a fucking chance to apologize."

The brunette could feel tears start to burn her eyes as she stared at the carpet.

"Apologize for what?"

Puck groaned but she pressed him for a response. "I can't just let this go if you can't even tell me what you want to apologize for Noah."

"Fuck…I want to apologize for acting like we had no shot. That…that wasn't fair."

Rachel bobbed her head in agreement. "Thank you," she said and pressed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "We need to talk more but I need to go out there."

Puck kissed her forehead, acknowledging his agreement. "I'll be right outside the stage door. Mike and Matt will be in the audience. Right after you're done, I'll be waiting for you."

They walked down the rest of hallway in silence, but his hand on the small of her back was more reassurance than she had the entire week. As they got to the door, they could hear Jimmy introducing her appearance to the audience.

"When most high school students were thinking about college, this girl was thinking about how to conquer Broadway. Since then she starred in Mama Mia on Broadway and has been working her way to where she is now. She's a star of the Batman film _Black Dawn_, alongside Chace Crawford and Zachary Quinto. Please welcome Rachel Berry!" Jimmy announced

The crowd went crazy and Rachel walked out onto the soundstage, a huge smile spread across her face. As the whooping and clapping continued, no one heard the scuffle just outside the stage door.

"Well Rachel, congratulations on the apparent success of the film since it's already received rave reviews and been number one in the box office for the past two weeks."

"Thank you and thank you for having me," Rachel responded gratefully.

The interview ended and the camera turned off.

"The movie is really good, I wasn't bullshitting you during the interview," Jimmy told her as he gave her a parting hug. "Got any spoilers for the next one though?"

Rachel laughed lightly. "Truthfully, I don't even have a script yet so I couldn't if I tried."

"Well, we'll have to have you back again but this time before the movie opens so you can tell me all the details."

A studio hand came and took Jimmy away and Rachel waved at the crowd as she walked to the stage door. Her smile didn't fail because she actually felt okay with talking to Noah about earlier in the week and discussing their future. But instead of the intense green stare, she was met my cold blue eyes.

"Hey sweetie," Eric said before knocking her out with a right hook, "Miss me?"

* * *

"Puck! Puck, bro, wake up!" Mike shouted at him and slapped him on the cheek gently to try and get him to come to.

Drowsily, Puck came to and sat up with Mike's help.

"What the fuck happened man? Where's Rachel?"

Mike's line of question cleared any lethargy that remained in his head. There was a discarded, wet cloth on the ground next to him and the smell that emanated from it was obviously chemical.

"What do you mean where's Rachel?"

Unsteadily he got to his feet and rushed down the hall to the green room. Kurt was knocked out on the floor and Quinn was crying, bounded and gagged in front of the ocouh. Matt rushed to the blonde and pulled the cloth from her mouth.

"It's him. He hit Kurt and tied me up. He was looking for Rachel and he went crazy when he saw that she wasn't here."

Matt gently removed the duct tape that was around her hands and feet as Puck paced. Mike was already on the phone to Aubrey.

"Puck," Quinn sobbed, "We have to find her. We have to."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Rachel woke up face down on a dingy, smelly bed. Her fight or flight response told her to scream and to find help but she knew that if his punching her was any indication, he wasn't opposed to violence. Her cheek throbbed from where he had hit her and she knew it would take a ton of makeup to fix it until it healed. She very nearly wished for the slap from the trailer a year earlier. That had hurt but not as much as this. Stilling all movement, she could hear the bathroom faucet running and knew that certainly wouldn't give her enough time to get away. Rachel moved her head and winced when the bejeweled bobby pin in her hair dug into her scalp.

'Bobby pin!' she thought eagerly

With trembling hands, she reached up to the hair accessory pin that had been secretly forced upon her by Aubrey as a backup plan. Although she had not want to hear it at the time, she was overjoyed to have it now. She turned the jewel counterclockwise as she was taught and quickly brought her hands down and squeezed her eyes shut to pretend that she was still asleep.

She remembered the conversation that they had had just two days earlier.

"_Ouch," Rachel mumbled as Kurt accidentally stuck her with one of the pins he was using to alter her dress. _

"_Well, I'm sorry but if you stopped wiggling so god damn much, this would be done quicker and we won't get blood on it." Another pin slid into the satin-like material and Kurt's ice blue eyes caught Rachel's sad ones in the mirror. "Diva, you're so unhappy, why don't you just let him talk to you? He obviously wants to."_

"_You didn't hear him in the bedroom. He acted like what we had was nothing and it…hurt. I've had too much of that in the past and I really don't feel like I deserve it anymore."_

_Aubrey knocked on the doorframe and the two looked at the LAPD detective, wondering how much she had heard of Rachel's personal business._

"_Sorry to interrupt but I have something for you." The blonde held out a body pin with a purple jewel attached to the end. The gem was no bigger than an inch in circumference but Kurt curled his lip in disgust. _

"_What is that?" the stylist asked, his face nearly horrified. _

"_Put your claws away Kurt. It's not meant to be an expression of fashion. It's something one of the New York TARU cops gave me to help us out. It's a tracking device, undetectable right under the jewel. You twist it counterclockwise and it's on emitting a signal to my laptop."_

_Rachel's face paled at the definition of what lay in Aubrey's palm. "Do you really think that it will come to that?" _

"_I seriously hope it doesn't Rachel but I want every possible aspect covered. Puck and the others have the security aspect covered and I will be in the broadcast room but I'm not taking chances with Eric. He's been evasive in the past and he's good at getting information on you." With her hands on her hips, Aubrey turned to Kurt. "So do we think we can work this into her ensemble?" _

The bed dipped down where her feet didn't reach. His presence make her heart beat faster but not in a good way.

"You're awake, I can tell so stop faking." Rachel opened her eyes and stared into the cold eyes of Eric but didn't say anything. "Let's talk."

"About?" Rachel asked, sitting up and moving farther away from him. He had always given her the creeps but now she was doing her best to not let her terrified state shine through. She was an actress and it was time to project courage.

"How you're going to get out of this unharmed as long as you give me what I want."

Rachel touched the side of her face gingerly with her fingertips and raised her eyebrows.

"Go on," she told him. Rachel didn't trust him as far as she could throw him (which wasn't very far) but was open to hearing his supposed plan as to how she was going to get out of this nightmare alive.

* * *

Aubrey thought that by returning back to L.A. for Rachel's taping for Jimmy Kimmel Live that things would take a turn for the positive. But as soon as Mike called her cell and started relaying what had happened, she was pissed at herself. She should have told them that she was forbidding Rachel to do the show and that she needed to remain on lockdown until they caught the guy. But her soft side had known how important this girl's career was to her and she allowed it.

Now Rachel was missing, in all probability taken by Eric. To where, they had no clue. She just hoped that in the midst of the fear that she was sure Rachel was feeling that she would remember to turn on the device. She carried the small laptop down the hallway to the green room and didn't say anything to the people already in there. Aubrey had already had the building cleared and rather move to another location start the search, had garnered use of the green room. With that done, her focus was on getting the laptop set up and coming up with a plan. She dumped her belongings on the table and immediately got focused on her task at hand.

The bickering that was taking place amongst Rachel's group of friends was most definitely not conducive to that.

"Why are we not doing anything?" Quinn all but screamed. Adam rubbed her back supportively. "Let's go out there and look for her!"

"Could you take it down a notch? You're giving me a migraine," Kurt asked rubbing two fingers over his temple repeatedly.

"No that was the fist that connected with your face bro," Matt told him.

"Why don't you care about where Rachel is? What the cash cow is gone so we just give up?" Quinn asked the stylist directly. The blame game was quickly getting ugly.

"You did not just say that," Kurt hissed.

Puck had had enough. He sat in the chair that Rachel had occupied just about an hour ago. "Everybody shut the fuck up," he all but growled.

Everyone eyed him carefully as he was ticking time bomb. He had been quiet since the realization that Rachel had been taken and if pushed, they were sure he would lose it.

Aubrey was typing on the keyboard and marking numbers down on scrap paper. No one really paid her any attention until she cursed loudly but excitedly.

"What's your deal?" Puck asked her wearily.

"Rachel turned on the tracking device and I have her location. She's on Figueroa."

Everyone perked up at the mention of the tracking device and immediately wanted an explanation. In the quickest manner she could, she told them about the bobby pin and how she gave it to her out of hopes of not having to use it.

"I've gotta call in and get us some backup," Aubrey said but before she could dial a single button on her phone, Quinn gathered her into a hug and nearly squeezed the living daylights out of the detective.

"I'm so sorry I was so awful to you. Thank you," Quinn told her.

Aubrey patted the girl's back before begging off that they really needed to focus. She called into headquarters and they would have S.W.A.T. assistance at Rachel's location in a half hour.

"Quinn, Kurt and Adam, go to the hotel. If Rachel's not injured, we'll bring her straight back there." Aubrey ordered and pocketed her cell phone. "Puck, Mike, and Matt you're coming with me. We're going to need additional hands."

"Wait, where is Puck?" Mike asked not seeing the elected head of Rachel's security team.

Mike was right - Puck was not in the room. Matt tried to call him and got no answer. Aubrey looked down at the table and noted that the paper with the exact address on it and her badge were both missing.

"He stole my fucking badge," Aubrey yelled frustrated. "We've gotta get to that address before he does something fucking stupid."

* * *

The address was the shittiest motel that Puck had seen in a long time and he had watched 8 Mile on television the other night. But with the APB photo of Eric, his gun and Aubrey's badge, he was going to make good work of the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

He headed into the management office and approached the grubby owner of the motel. Flashing Aubrey's badge (and not the portion that depicted the model like detective) and the photo of Eric, he demanded to know if he was in the motel.

"Room 16," the owner responded automatically, "Paid with cash. What's he done?"

"Never mind that, I need him out of that room immediately. Can you call him down and make something up? Maintenance, or some other shit?"

"Shit, I dunno man. I really don't want to get involved in this," the owner replied rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"This is police matter and if you don't cooperate, you will be charged as such." The lies just fucking rolled off his tongue but he could care less. He knew Aubrey would be pissed for his impersonating a police officer but his focus was on finding Rachel and getting her away from the sick fuck that had terrorized her fathers, destroyed her apartment and disrupted her life.

The owner paled, handed him the extra key to Eric's room and picked up the phone.

"Not yet, give me five minutes to get up there." The owner simply nodded and with wide eyes watched him walk out of the management office. Puck walked to room 16 and ducked down into where the ice machine was located. Blood pounded in his ears and maybe a minute after he was hidden, he heard a door slam and Eric cursing as he walked down away from the motel room.

Using the key, he got into room 16 and he saw Rachel sitting on the bed. His heart broke at the sight of her bruised cheek. Her mouth gaped at the sight of him and she instantly started to cry.

"Baby, baby, none that right now," Puck told her, kneeling in front of her and undoing the twine that Eric had tied tight around her hands. The twine had caused her hands to be colored a deep purple and it had left angry marks on her delicate wrists. "We gotta get out of here, okay?" he told her pulling Rachel to her feet.

"You came for me?" Rachel asked, awed at the action. "He's crazy Noah. He wants me to lie and say that everything that has happened has been a manifestation of my imagination and to get him a job with the studio. I told him I could work on it. I didn't know what else to say…"

"You did good," Puck reassured her but before he could get Rachel to safety, the handle turned and Eric caught them like two deer in headlights. Puck pushed Rachel behind him and stood his ground.

"So the big bad former juvenile delinquent has come to claim his slut?" Eric asked

"Don't talk about her like that," Puck responded watching the man intently. After they had figured out that Eric had been behind every single one of Rachel's traumas over the last few months, Puck had done his research. The guy was educated at the University of Texas and had been in a fraternity before coming to Los Angeles for work. There quite a bit of documentation on him drinking his way through both clients and women followed by the one of the final articles on his firing from the studio. The ass may be educated but Puck had the physical upper hand. He had two inches on the guy and fifteen pounds of muscle. He hadn't lost his physical prowess since starting to protect Rachel and it all came down to this.

"Rachel, get back," he urged lowly.

"Noah, don't do anything stupid," she cried and backed up into the corner. Puck inched forward ready to pounce.

"Yeah, Noah don't do anything stupid," Eric taunted and pulled out a knife. Rachel gasped and wanted to close her eyes but she couldn't. She couldn't look away.

Puck lunged at Eric and got a grip on the hand that possessed the knife. Kneeing him in the stomach, he applied enough pressure to the wrist until the weapon fell from his grasp. Puck kicked it to the side but wasn't prepared for Eric to recover so quickly. Eric was able to get in a shot to Puck's solar plexus which stunned him. With a swift kick to the groin, Puck was on the floor writhing in pain. Eric grabbed the gun from where Puck had stored it in the waistband of his jeans.

Eric removed the safety and pointed the gun at Puck.

"You know I never wanted this to be violent," the disgraced former agent said, looking from Puck to Rachel.

"This turned violent the minute you terrorized her fathers you fuck," Puck gritted out, the pain still radiating through Puck Jr.

"I'm the one with the gun so how about you just shut your fucking mouth," Eric warned, finger poised on the trigger. He kicked Puck in the side several times which earned screams out of Rachel and Puck just groaned in response. Eric stalked to where Rachel stood and grabbed her arm and brought her back to the bed.

"Ready for your big performance darling?" Eric asked, keeping the gun trained on her. With one hand, he began to unbuckle his belt. "I'm sure this guy here will love to watch."

"No," Rachel mumbled repeatedly and stared wide-eyed at Puck.

From the minute that they had discovered Rachel missing, Puck had pinned the blame on himself. He should have been poised for an attack while waiting for Rachel by the stage door but caught up in the fact that they were going to talk and work through their issues, he got complacent and Eric took advantage of that. It was his fault that she had a horrible bruise on her cheek. It was his fault that she was in this position and he needed to save her.

Summoning all the strength he had in his body, Puck heaved himself off the floor and tackled Eric off the bed and effectively off of Rachel. As the two rolled on the floor, the door to the room burst open and Aubrey led the charge, armored with an LAPD police vest. But before her or any of the other S.W.A.T. team members could assist the scuffle, a shot rang out in the small motel room.

Time seemed to move too slowly for Rachel's tastes after that. One S.W.A.T. member pulled Eric off of Puck and Rachel's eyes went wide at the sight. Noah was shot. Blood was staining the dingy carpet underneath him. Puck coughed and pushed his fingers into the bullet wound on his abdomen to attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Get that piece of shit out of here," Aubrey ordered to another office before speaking her radio ordering the paramedics to come to the room immediately. "Civilian male down, 25 years old, bullet wound to the abdomen."

Rachel scrambled to sit next to him on the floor and took his other hand. "I told you not to do anything stupid, you idiot." Tears fell from her eyes and she didn't even try to wipe them away.

"Ugh, Rach, can we not right now? Fuck, getting shot does not feel good," he wheezed.

The paramedics wheeled in a stretcher and got to work on Puck.

"Bullet's not through and through. He's going to need surgery," the first paramedic told Rachel. The duo rolled him onto his side and strapped him onto a backboard and hooked him to an IV of saline to replace fluids. "Ma'm, we need to get him to the ambulance and to do that we need you to back up."

"O-okay," Rachel said shakily and moved back into Matt's embrace.

The paramedics wheeled a very quiet Puck out to the ambulance and Rachel demanded to be taken to the hospital.

"Rach, you need to…" Mike started but stopped upon seeing the withering stare that she was shooting him. "You need to do whatever you'd like."

Matt nudged her towards the door and they headed to the hospital to be there for their friend.

* * *

"Oh fuck," Puck groaned as the last of anesthesia wore off and he woke up in a hospital bed. He tried to sit up but the injury that he sustained quickly nixed that plan. Even worse, Rachel caught him trying to move.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing?" the tiny brunette demanded, hands on her hips. "You just had major surgery!"

Puck looked at her and nearly gave her a pout. "Baby, please…"

"Oh don't baby please me, Noah," Rachel said as she approached the hospital bed but her tough demeanor fell away as she saw that he was in pain now that the anesthesia had worn off. Her hand fell to his remote and she paged the nurse.

"S'not that bad," he gritted out. Shit, he must really be in pain because his lies were at their usual standard. And it hurt like a bitch.

"You're a terrible actor," Rachel told him as the nurse came in and gave him more morphine for the pain. "So much so that they should take your SAG card away."

Puck laughed but quickly stopped when it made him feel worse. She gently took a seat on the edge of the hospital bed and just watched him. It was unnerving but he didn't say anything. But soon her chin quivered with tears and she dropped his forehead to his.

"Noah," she breathed, "You scared me. I know you were trying to protect me but…when I think about what could have been…"

He ran his hand up her arm and tried to soothe her. "It's over now. We'll be fine." Puck says the last sentence hesitantly because he's hopeful that after everything (such as him risking his life and getting shot) that as a couple, they can get back on track.

"Yeah," she replied quietly.

Puck swallowed thickly at her easy response. "Does this mean that we're okay? Even after…" He doesn't want to use Annie's name because he's not sure that bringing her up is the best idea at the moment.

"Yes despite what I learned about your past, I still want you," she answered softly. "Like I said, you're a part of my world."

"Rachel," he murmured, a slight smile on his lips. He needed to kiss her right then so he gently pressed his lips against her. He couldn't give her as much passion as he wished he could with his injury but there was time for that later.

"Rach, there's stuff I want to talk about…" he said when she pulled away.

"Not now Noah, you need to rest," she insisted, cupping the side of his face. When he looked as if he might protest she pulled the mom card. "Do I need to call your mother?"

That quickly shut him up and he agreed to get some rest. Rachel moved to grab her purse and head out but he called out to stop her.

"Thank you," he told her and she looked at him quizzically.

"What are you thanking me for?" Rachel asked, brow furrowed as she had no idea what he could be thanking her for. Because quite literally, he was the one that took a bullet for her.

"Because, despite the shit that went down, it was worth it."

Rachel smiled because despite being a man of very few words when it came to his feelings, she was sure that that "it" meant her as well. And she could certainly work with that.

_

* * *

_

Next summer…

"Rach, fuck, hurry up. We've got to get into the car and to the event or Quinn is going to skin me alive," Puck complained to his girlfriend of nearly year.

They were in Miami where the awards were being held that year and Rachel was up for Best Kiss with Chace Crawford as well as Best Breakout Star. Kurt had been searching for a month for the perfect dress and it was almost like they were getting freaking married because Puck had no clue what she was wearing that night.

Matt and Mike were meeting them at the show as the trio still existed for protection when it came to Rachel attending events. Mike was nearly done with his graduate degree taking classes at night at NYU and they hadn't talked about what would happen once he was done but for now, what they had going still worked.

But since that day in the motel where Eric had been caught, Rachel had not received anything more than the paparazzi being interested even when the girl went to get her mail. Things were calm.

Well calm except for the fact that Puck knew that if the duo won Best Kiss, Rachel was going to have to kiss Chace on stage in front of everybody and he was not thrilled in the least. He would give Chace a solid disclaimer when they arrived at the show to keep his fucking paws to himself.

"Rachel, I'm not fucking kidding!" he shouted again

"Keep your pants on!" Kurt shouted from the bathroom. Puck rolled his eyes at the stylist's retort. Kurt emerged a minute later looking pleased so Puck sat up straighter, waiting for his girl to make her grand entrance. He nearly choked at the sight of her.

"Holy shit," he mumbled.

His reaction went from badass to pussy in .5 but he could care less. Puck cared much more about examining his legs for days girlfriend in a tiny black strapless dress that kept little from the imagination. Sequins had been stitched in lines throughout to catch the light and give the dress structure (shit, he was spending way too much time with Hummel to know that). Her brown hair had been curled into waves and swept off her neck, which was another A+ in his book. Her tiny feet were encased in high as fuck pumps would make her appear a little taller next to him. Rachel's lips had been stained a sultry red and her eyes gleamed under Kurt's artful hand with the smoky eye shadow.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said and bent down to give him a kiss.

Rachel smelled incredible too and if they weren't heading out, he would most certainly drag her back to the bedroom to occupy the next few hours. The kiss quickly intensified before Kurt made gagging noises. Puck flipped him off in response.

"We better get the fuck out of here otherwise you will be missing your awards show," he said standing up.

Rachel gave Kurt two quick air kisses to bid him goodbye and as she walked out the door, Puck gave her a light swat on the ass.

It had been a tough road to get Rachel safe but now that she was and they were together, life was good.

* * *

_ Author's Note: So that's the end of the story! I honestly probably could have dragged this out for several more chapters but I didn't want the story idea to become stale. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read or review – I sincerely appreciate it and it gives me the push to keep writing._


End file.
